Luke 24:1-12
Easter - Year C
Who goes into the tomb first? The men in John or the women in Luke? It is difficult to have it both ways. My bias runs toward Luke telling a better story here, so let's look at the women.
A key difference is between John's sense of being bereft -- so distraught that Mary M. couldn't see straight -- and Luke's sense of awe -- being overcome by a visitation as powerful as the transfiguration scene.
Will people return home amazed from Easter worship? Is that an internal state that depends on what they come with or is that a function of sacramental and preaching that goes beyond what folks are expecting? Obviously a false choice, but will shape what is done by the church leadership in providing common or uncommon ritual.
What would be amazing enough to bring the Easter crowd running back next Sunday so it won't be Low Sunday where we can joke a lot and get away with it because Easter showed we don't have to take this resurrection stuff any more seriously than did the first witnesses? What context and content would move this from an incomprehensible idle tale to revived and changed lives?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/april2004.html
With a crowd (well, two or three) we are strengthened to enter where an angel may fear to tread. In Luke, in they go. When one, even one as persistent as Mary Magdalene, is alone it is easier to cut and run quite early. In John, away she goes.
The women, together, got no respect from the disciples. The individual one received an immediate response from a disciple who ran to the tomb.
What is helpful in going in to find out some facts seems not to have been as response-getting as the individual's haste. In some sense, to have corroborating facts lays us more open to dismissive questions while sheer energy motivates.
As we come to Easter, what emotion, beyond facts and figures needs to come to the fore? Can that be expressed in a variety of ways for the variety of people who respond to different stimuli?
What dynamic do you see when you contrast these two passages rather than try to conflate them? Is that a helpful hint about the processes that would be helpful in your situation, with the people you deal with?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/april2004.html
Men in fabulous, shining clothes try to speak with the women with spices. First response - acculturated fear and shyness. With no expected attack, memory returns.
Women with spices try to speak with men in ordinary dress. First response - acculturated distance and dismissal. With unexpected persistence, a trial listening ensues.
And so the confusion of resurrection begins. Unlooked for to begin with and unbelievable when a glimmer is caught, a new story begins in the rocky, weedy paths of a few.
We are still working resurrection out. When we get the acculturated stuff out of the way we will get much closer to all that lies behind this multi-valenced word. If nothing more, may Easter be a scraping away of at least one layer of traditional religion that the mystery of life might shine through every attempt to explain and control it.
- - -
idol tales of common wisdom
lead us to put our tails between our legs
and simply agree with what everyone knows
and develop and idle tail
first we drop our tail
and then our head
no joy of curiosity
no hope for a quantum leap
no matter how long the lenten season
or how dark the easter vigil
a primeval choice keeps presenting
howl or turn tail
- - -
Elizabeth (Reader) said...
Thanks for your Easter reflection - really got me thinking in a new direction for Sunday.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
A life of Spirit/Religion is one of looking for the living. This is true even when we are not aware that we are looking for the living.
So often we are looking for the dead, going through our rituals of expectation, and yet carry an unspoken hope that we might find the living instead.
It is in remembering that we return from unsuccessful searches for either the living or the dead. All of a sudden new synapses awaken us to significance that was right under our nose all along. Our remembrance is a helpful motivator but does not suggest an equally helpful apology for our remembrance — that is, we can carry good news but it can be easily dismissed as an idle tale.
Note that Peter went home after his experience of emptiness confirmed. Resurrection changes nothing and everything at the same time. Keep vigiling, for anniversaries of grand events are only anniversaries. Don’t expect Easter to be an Easter for you, G*D is too sly to make your next step forward so ritualistic. Do, though, expect clarity to come with keeping watch. Then go home, consolidate, and move on.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/03/luke-251-12-holy-week-sunday-vigil.html