Living into Easter

When Jesus gathered with his disciples in the upper-room for the Last Supper, they were all in town for Passover. In Jewish tradition, Passover is centered around re-telling, remembering and being reminded of the story of the Exodus. It is a story of freedom, liberation that is fundamental to Jewish identity. Everything about being the people of YHWH came back to this narrative. If the people forgot this story, they lost their identity. That is why the priest (literally in Hebrew: “the remembering ones”) were those that continually invited the community to remember the Exodus- the action of God on their behalf that made their freedom a reality.

Jesus sat down with his disciples to remember this very thing, knowing that in a matter of days he would be the central figure in a new Exodus- one that would make real the freedom of all peoples through his death and resurrection.

As I come to Easter this year, I feel entrenched in narratives of slavery, bondage, oppression, sickness, despair and death. Some of these are my own narratives; some are those of the people I love. For at least 3 weeks now, I’ve been wrestling with God about Easter. Resurrection Sunday usually has the same spirit as that moment when the people of Israel danced and sang on the other side of the Red Sea as their oppressors drowned before their eyes. They celebrated with joy- but what followed was a long process of living into that freedom. They wandered. They worshiped idols. They wanted to be like the other nations. We so quickly forget that we aren’t slaves anymore!

Often on Easter morning I feel a disconnect. I resonate more with that group of people running to and fro from a house to a garden. They are confused, disorganized, some are cautiously amazed. Everyone is looking over their shoulder. We read the Gospel texts about the resurrection and it quite literally appears as if nothing is happening. Jesus conquered death making salvation available to the world, but the story is profoundly anti-climactic. On that Easter morning, something shifted fundamentally in the fabric of the cosmos- but in that moment, outside of that group of friends, nobody knows. Nobody cares.

What happened from there sounds less like the triumphalist songs we sing and more like a droplet hitting a a still lake and the ripples quietly, faithfully going out. The reality of the Resurrection of Jesus is not truth that we shout through a bullhorn from the street-corners. Rather, the Resurrection of Jesus is a reality that we live into. Eugene Peterson has an old book on discipleship that I haven’t read whose title sums it up: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. The direction he speaks of is the Resurrection. New life, victory over death, is realized when the streams of our lives begin to flow together in this trajectory.

That is why I believe that Wits’ End is a spiritual community. We look a lot like the small group of friends running back and forth between houses and gardens. Most of us are confused. Anyone watching us would agree that nothing is happening here. But when we gather, when we love one another, when we cry, play and worship together- something deep is happening. We are living into the reality of the Resurrection and affirming the cosmic shift that took place at the core of the universe when Jesus rose.

Friends, Jesus is Alive and we have been set Free! Today, we remember our Exodus and together, we live into the freedom that has been made available to us. Christ is Risen! (He is Risen Indeed!)

Psalm 114, Luke 24:1-12