A traditional greeting is given on Easter Sunday (beginning at midnight and continuing throughout the day) across much of the Eastern Christian world. It is often expressed in Greek, but often, too, in whatever the actual local language happens to be. In Greek, it goes like this:
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christos Anesti (in modern Greek pronunciation)
Christ is risen!
To which the traditional response is
Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!
Alithos Anesti (in modern Greek pronunciation)
Truly, he is risen!
He is risen. And, on this Resurrection Sunday, I once again share with you one of my favorite poems. It’s “Seven Stanzas at Easter,” written by the late poet and novelist John Updike (1932-2009). He was a two-time winner of the National Book Award and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
In order to understand the poem completely, you need to know the noun remonstrance (re-MON-strance), which denotes “a forcefully reproachful protest”:
Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart
That—pierced—died, withered, paused, and then regathered
Out of enduring Might
New strength to enclose.Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
Not a stone in a story,
But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of
Time will eclipse for each of us
The wide light of day.And if we have an angel at the tomb,
Make it a real angel,
Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in
The dawn light, robed in real linen
Spun on a definite loom.Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed
By the miracle,
And crushed by remonstrance.
“People have been told so often that resurrection is just a metaphor, and means Jesus died and was glorified – in other words, he went to Heaven, whatever that means. And they’ve never realized that the word ‘resurrection’ simply didn’t mean that.” (N. T. Wright)
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)
I assume that many of you will attend a special Easter sacrament meeting today. And you will probably have a special Easter meal. I hope, though, that you — and I — can spend at least a minute or two at home, or with family, outside of the chapel, thinking about what this day commemorates. About what this weekend commemorates. Here are some things that might help a bit:
Real Clear Religion: “The Most Demanding Holiday,” by J. T. Young
Here are some videos from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that you can watch, and that you can share with friends and family: https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/becauseofhim
“The Story from Gethsemane to the Garden Tomb in Photos,” by Scot and Maurine Proctor
And, if you haven’t already — but even if you already have — please take 3.5 minutes to watch this video of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square accompanying a choir of children in performing Melanie Hoffman’s song “Gethsemane”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GijSuQM5OU.
Jesus climbed the hill to the garden still.
His steps were heavy and slow.
Love and a prayer took Him there
To the place only He could go.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He went willingly to Gethsemane.He felt all that was sad, wicked, or bad,
All the pain we would ever know.
While His friends were asleep, He fought to keep
His promise made long ago.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He went willingly to Gethsemane.The hardest thing that ever was done,
The greatest pain that ever was known,
The biggest battle that ever was won—
This was done by Jesus!
The fight was won by Jesus!Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He gave His gift to me in Gethsemane.Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He gives His gift to me from Gethsemane.
And here are some additional thoughts on the resurrection of Jesus, and on the resurrection more generally, that hope some will find helpful to reflection:
“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” (Martin Luther)
“Easter may seem boring to children, and it is blessedly unencumbered by the silly fun that plagues Christmas. Yet it contains the one thing needful for every human life: the good news of Resurrection.” (Frederica Mathewes-Green)
“All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it.” (Joseph Smith, Jr.)
“Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, ‘Christ is risen,’ but ‘I shall rise.'” (Phillips Brooks)
“No matter how devastating our struggles, disappointments, and troubles are, they are only temporary. No matter what happens to you, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain you face, no matter how death stalks you and your loved ones, the Resurrection promises you a future of immeasurable good.” (Josh McDowell)
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!
I wish a blessed and happy Easter to everyone out there.
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