Easter Day is usually one
of joy and celebration. It’s when fasting gives way to feasting, church bells
ring out, and Christians gather together to proclaim ‘Alleluia, Christ is
risen!’ This year will be different. For the first time for many people,
Christ’s resurrection will be celebrated at home – perhaps alone – with church
doors locked and bolted, and the mood subdued by a pervasive atmosphere of fear
and anxiety. Easter Day 2020 will be like no other. Or will it?
The day Christ rose from
the dead is described in all four Gospels. Each evangelist paints a different picture,
but what unifies them is a sense of intense, heightened emotion. In Mark, the visitors
to the empty tomb, who are told by an angelic figure that Jesus has risen from
the dead, flee from the scene in terror and amazement, fearful of speaking to
anyone about what they’ve witnessed. In Matthew, they leave with the mixed
emotions of fear and joy. In Luke, they’re simply terrified. In John’s very
different account, Mary Magdalene’s reactions range from displays of overwhelming
grief to ecstatic excitement. In their different ways, all four Gospels portray
the first Easter Day as an emotional roller-coaster, where fear and terror is as
evident as joy and happiness.
It’s for this reason that
Mark’s account is so powerful. The earliest manuscripts close with the words
‘for they were afraid’. This abrupt, dramatic ending leaves the story
unresolved. In doing so, it gives a sense of what it must have been like to be
there. The shocked disciples would have realised something significant was happening.
But what? Why? How would it affect them? It was a disturbing, unsettling, confusing
day. Only the passing of time would enable them to come to terms with what had
happened.
Matthew, Luke and John take
the story further. Although their accounts differ, a common factor is that each
has a resolution – there’s no ‘cliff-hanger’, as in Mark. The evangelists continue
by drawing on the reported encounters between the risen Christ and his disciples.
In their distinctive ways, these three Gospels show how the presence of the
risen Christ not only enabled his disciples to come to terms with what had
happened, but to respond positively to the trauma they’d experienced during the
tumultuous events of Holy Week and Easter. Each Gospel ends with the risen
Christ offering his disciples a new sense of meaning and purpose for how to
live their lives.
In Luke, emphasis is
placed on making sense of what had taken place over the past few days. This is
conveyed in the story of the risen Christ walking, unrecognised, with two
grieving disciples on the road to Emmaus. After they tell the apparent stranger
the reason for their sorrow, the risen Christ offers them a way to think things
through. ‘Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things
and then enter into his glory?’, he asks them, before going deeper into his
explanation. It’s only when he breaks bread with them that they recognise who
he is – at which point he vanishes.
John’s attention is
elsewhere. In troubled and stressful times, our faith can be shaken to the core
and we can do things we later regret. John addresses the spiritual and
psychological damage of such trauma by portraying the risen Christ as ‘the
wounded healer’. In John, there’s no escaping the reality of suffering – the risen
Christ shows his wounds to his astonished disciples and tells Simon Peter that
he, too, will suffer a brutal death. What’s offered isn’t an antidote to
suffering, or a vaccine to prevent it, but a way of being reconciled to its
reality and dealing with its effects.
John tells of how the
risen Christ came to Thomas, who’s riddled with doubt. ‘Do not doubt but believe’, he says to the disciple, showing him his
wounds. Jesus’ suffering is real, but so is his resurrection – giving Thomas a reason
to have faith. Later, the risen Christ comes to Simon Peter to ask, three
times, ‘Do you love me?’ The reason
for this is clear: it’s to forgive Simon Peter for his three-fold denial of
knowing Jesus when he was arrested, thus releasing him from the guilt of
abandoning his friend. On three occasions in John’s Gospel, the risen Christ
greets his disciples by saying ‘Peace be
with you’. For both Thomas and Simon Peter the presence of the risen Christ
brings mental healing, offering them peace of mind.
The ending of Matthew’s
Gospel is much briefer. It moves rapidly from the instruction by the angel at
the tomb for the disciples to go to Galilee, to the risen Christ addressing
them on a Galilean mountain. Here, Matthew shows how we can be empowered by the
experience of suffering to move on with positivity and vigour: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded
you.’
In different ways, then,
Matthew, Luke and John not only bring their Gospels to a resolution, but they offer
insights into how we can face and respond purposefully to the storms of life.
A traumatic experience – such as a worrying medical diagnosis, bereavement or the loss of a job – may well paralyse us with fear, just like the visitors to the tomb in Mark’s Gospel. The inability to think or do anything at such times is a natural response, and protects us from any potentially harmful knee-jerk reactions. This paralysis only becomes problematic when it persists. What’s often helpful – especially if we do get stuck in our fears – is to talk to someone who can listen to our concerns and offer guidance, just as the disciples on the Emmaus road discovered.
Trauma can also destroy self-confidence,
and make us lose trust in what’s given us strength and resilience in the past –
including a religious faith. The risen Christ’s words to Thomas, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe’, are like
a life-line to hold on to at such times.
The things we do and say in
the heat of the moment, when stressed, may also need addressing. As the story
of Simon Peter reminds us, seeking and offering forgiveness are essential to reconciling
the differences and healing the broken relationships that can be the collateral
damage of a traumatic experience.
Troubled times do end,
eventually. Not everyone will see the ending, but for those who do there’s an
opportunity to be grasped. Understanding first-hand the fragility and
preciousness of our God-given life can be transformative, and many people find
the experience of suffering life-changing and empowering. We see this in the
case of the disciples. Thrown into disarray by Jesus’ death, and startled by
his resurrection, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles show them responding positively
and purposefully to the risen Christ’s commission in Galilee. The disciples go on
to become courageous apostles, willing to give their lives to spread the Good
News of Jesus Christ.
Much of what the Gospels
convey about dealing with suffering and trauma is universally applicable:
talking things through, moving on by healing relationships, and drawing positively
on our experiences. A distinctively Christian element, however, is the enduring
presence of the risen Christ.
Even when confronted by a
global pandemic, it’s understandable that each one of us may feel alone and
isolated. Suffering has a tendency to make us inward-looking and self-absorbed.
At such moments, coming prayerfully before God is more than a psychological
prop; it’s to place ourselves in a state of awareness that through the
incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the human
condition we experience – including that sense of isolation – is held by our loving
Creator. We are not alone.
Easter 2020 will be different.
While there’s a sadness in not being able to come together in person, the mixed
emotions of fear and joy we’re likely to experience have the potential to draw
us close to the very event the day celebrates. If that happens, then it’s a
gift and a blessing. In these difficult times, an awareness of the healing,
reconciling and empowering presence of the risen Christ and his ‘words of
resurrection’ can free us from anxiety. In doing so, they will help us face
whatever the coming days, weeks and months may bring with faith hope and
purpose.
~
Breathe,
Believe… Adrian
Snell
Fear can paralyze you, squeeze the breath inside
you,
trap you in despair.
Overwhelmed by sorrow, burdened by tomorrow,
isolation’s here.
Doubt can lose, accuse and leave you
drifting at the mercy of the waves.
No compass, lifeline, no sight of distant shoreline,
nothing of the certainty you crave
Stay with me.
Pray with me.
Breathe…
When ocean mists surround you, storms and gales
astound you,
I will take control…
I know the raging oceans, they’ll calm when I have
spoken,
and I will steer you safely home.
Remember, always, I am with you,
see the Wounded Healer’s hands.
Freedom, hope, forgiveness follow,
See how resurrection comes.
Stay with me.
Pray with me.
Believe…
Peace be upon you, peace in times of danger,
peace within your heart,
peace upon your children, peace for friend and
stranger,
this peace I now impart.
Remember, always, I am with you,
See my Wounded Healer’s hands.
Freedom, hope, forgiveness follow,
see now resurrection comes, see now resurrection
comes.
Stay with me
Pray with me
Breathe….
Stay with me
Pray with me
Believe…
Words and music © Adrian Snell 2020
~
Each day, we will post a
short article by one of Darton, Longman and Todd’s amazing authors, offering a
personal reflection on our current situation in life. Sometimes this will be
written with reference to one of their books, and sometimes about how they are
living in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus and our current world situation.
We hope it will give you a taste of the depth and diversity of DLT’s list –
books for heart, mind and soul that aim to meet the needs and interests of all.
Today’s post is by Edmund
Newell and Adrian Snell, co-authors of Seven Words for Three Hours. You can buy a copy of the book and CD here.
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