Holy Week: a week of indescribable events and violence that we rightly shield from the very young. The cross is its symbol. Many, even among people of faith, wish to sidestep the unfolding suffering of this week. Suffering makes us so uncomfortable we will paper over not only our neighbor's sorrow, but our own as well.
We do the same with the Easter announcement of resurrection. We paper over our incomprehension of resurrection with Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs and motifs of Spring. With a moment’s thought we realize that God is claiming something outrageous on Easter morning..... and we know that Easter bunnies are nothing but child’s play.
That first Easter the disciples are no more able to comprehend that occurrence than they understood the cross on Friday. Dare we hope that the promise of Jesus, ‘where you are I will be also’ can be trusted even into death?
Yes, we dare.
In the middle of our deepest darkness, we dare to cling to an empty tomb. We dare to hope. Darkness, evil and death do not have the last word. We dare to hope .
Death is not the end but a new beginning into a life we can’t imagine. We dare to hope. .
Even this is not the end. Once we grasp that what we see is not God’s ultimate reality, then we can walk into the deepest darkness of disease, evil, even death and know that God is waiting there for us with a resurrection.
Our hope is not a maybe or a possibility: it is an empty tomb and a risen Christ.
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