My irreverent sub-conscious strikes again: suddenly on this reading of this oh, so familiar passage, my mind conjures a vision of dazzling disco dudes outside that tomb where the women were seeking Jesus’ body:
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground…
Other gospels say there were angels; Luke only tells us about men in dazzling clothes. Rhinestones? Gold lame? I’d have been terrified too. But maybe their terror had more to do with what these guys said:
…but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”
Angels, if angels they were, are heavenly beings with one job: to convey messages from God to God’s people. These “men” had a specific message for Jesus’ followers: He has risen from the dead, just like he told you he would be. That was the Easter morning message to Jesus' friends. But part of what they had to say had a broader audience, and still resonates for us, so many years later: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”
How much of our lives do we spend doing that, seeking life in places or even people that long ago ceased to have life for us? Seeking approval from people who should have no power over us; power in situations beyond our control; security in job and homes and bank accounts and relationships with no long-term guarantees; spiritual fulfillment in rituals and programs that once might have sparked a connection but are no longer where the Holy Spirit is leading us? Often we seek life in our past, or in our hopes for our future, anywhere but in the present where God-Life is all around us.
As we prepare to contemplate the amazing mystery of Resurrection this week, let’s take some time to examine where in our lives we might be seeking the living among the dead, or seeking life where we used to find it rather than where it is now. Where are we seeking Jesus?
And then let’s meditate on this:
Where and when do we feel most alive? Most connected? What causes our energy rise, our voices to take on a different timbre as we discuss it? That’s a sure sign that we’ve stumbled onto God-Life, the place where the Spirit wants to work with us and through us to bring Life to others.
I believe passionately that God wants life for us, life in abundance, as Jesus told his followers. I know I settle for a lot of “not-quite-life,” and I don’t think God wants us to settle. God wants us to leave behind the boneyards of our memories and losses and disappointed dreams, and be be-dazzled in his glorious light. Maybe we will even wear dazzling clothes to reflect God's glory!
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