We are well into the fifty days of Easter (Easter to Pentecost). Many Christians have difficulty imaging the Resurrection. “It is true. It happened but how do I get it through my head? How do I make sense of the resurrection?”
The resurrection of Jesus came as a complete surprise. No one had ever heard of such a thing. It was impossible after the horrible murder and public shaming of Jesus.
The resurrection of Jesus is always an event of divine revelation. God breaks through the limits of human experience. Not only is Jesus alive and eating breakfast with his disciples but he continues to give of his divine life to the disciples and the believers.
The resurrection is always a dynamic event. There was a historical event. Jesus returns among us but he comes to us as the Son of God. Jesus must now be resurrected in each one of us. This is the very dynamic part of the resurrection: it must happen in our space and time and in our Church communities.
The resurrection happens in us when we turn toward the poor and excluded of our society. It when we reach out to help others have food security, (can’t afford groceries), give medical attention and help refugees become established and secure in this new homeland. The resurrection takes definite shape and form when we reach out in compassionate ways toward those who do not have as much as the majority of citizens.
The resurrection happens when we share food with the food bank. There are many people who have a tough time making ends meet. The donation of peanut butter and rice, cereal and canned tuna was the sharing of Christ’s goodness through the sharing of food. How well this expresses Jesus teaching that ‘I was hungry and you gave me food.’
The resurrection is alive and well in those moments when we visit the nursing home and take the hand of our elderly mother in her dementia. She held our little hands when we were a fearful three-year old. Now, we bring her human comfort then we hold her eighty-nine year old hand. And the simple smiles that we give to the other residents affirms their value. A smile is always a sign of deep human communication.
The resurrection is shared when you pick up the telephone or call someone for coffee who has lost their adult child or the spouse of six decades. There are so few words to be spoken but much care and understanding is shared in just being present to the grieving friend. Probably the resurrection is shared more in the silence and the compassion than in any words that are ever spoken.
We rise with Jesus when we live, walk and work in his love. The resurrection becomes flesh in our flesh, in our compassion, our shing and our love for the lost, the wounded and forgotten of Canadian society.
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