New life

The Easter season is a wonderful time in the church year. We get to look at life and death. Life and death, great (?), you question.

Joseph

Yes, it is. In a world which does not like to take a hard look at death, as a world who likes to alleviate pain and grief as quickly as possibly, Easter season makes us look at grief and death. The scriptures take us through it.

Easter Day is Mary Magdalene in the garden, at the empty tomb. Pleading and begging for Jesus’ body not to be gone.

Yet it is and even calling the disciples to come and see it doesn’t change it. She cries, sobs, lets her grief out. Then Jesus is in front of her and she mistakes him for the gardener.

Yet when he calls her name she knows. Imagine, she wants to hug him, hold onto him and that is exactly what he forbids.

Yes, she gets to mourn, but she doesn’t get to hold onto him. To hold onto the grief forever. Holding on would be mean no healing, because Jesus isn’t staying. He must ascend to the Father, to God.

Then the disciples in the upper room. Locked away for fear, for fear of their own death. Jesus tells them to let peace in when he appears. Peace be with you is said twice when he comes to them the first time. When he reappears a whole week later for Thomas, they are still locked up with fear. Peace be with them again.

I imagine Jesus wonders whether they are going to stay locked up in fear forever. But we know the story of life is coming, the Holy Spirit will be there soon. Fear will eventually not hold them anymore.

This is the thing with visiting each of these stories and more throughout the Easter season in scripture.

The women and disciples can grieve. They are not told by Jesus to go, they are not told they are deadbeats, they can feel what they need to in order to say goodbye well. Even though Jesus is risen, he is still leaving them to do the work of the rest of the story. Jesus doesn’t manipulate it; tell them they must get over it.

Jesus keeps coming back to see them until they are ready to start the new chapter in their lives. And what a chapter it turns out to be. Happy Eastertide! Alleluia! Alleluia!

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The Rev. Annette Joseph has been the priest at Holy Cross Episcopal of Poplar Bluff for the past seven years and is also the priest of St. Paul’s Episcopal of Sikeston. She is the mother of five and blogs daily at http://arjoseph.blogspot.com/