Cross, Word, Puzzle (4.16.25)
On irrelevant curiosities and the fate of the world.
Sunday is Easter. If you’re not a Christian, you may not notice at all. Or it may strike you as slightly incomprehensible, the throngs swamping churches and cathedrals (100,000 at the Vatican, and no, Taylor’s not opening).
Why the fuss? One mental approximation is MLK Day: a time to honor a historical figure, to dwell on the principles they stood for. Ironically, Dr. King would have been nauseatingly offended by the comparison. But he could hardly blame you, since the media coverage is, frankly, bewildering: scenes of children running about the White House lawn looking for painted eggs, petting bunnies and eating chocolate.
Umm, okay. No wonder Easter is an irrelevant curiosity to some. But is it?
Recently, I proposed thought experiments to frame the big questions that Easter confronts (“The Outsiders” and “Right to Choose”). Both ultimately concern our human weakness. Some weakness leads to behavior that attracts universal reprobation: racism, hate, bullying. We like to think we are innocent of these. But “big” bad things are amplifications of “smaller” bad things: anger, self-loathing, resentment, lopsided thinking, loss of self-control. Such “smaller” bad things are but amplifications of yet others: insecurity, the urge to compare, selfish ambition, deception, keeping score.
Can we also claim to be innocent of these?
Jesus’ death is celebrated on Easter because of the logic that holds that the world cannot be perfect if we, the imperfect, lived in it. As much as we “try to be a good person”, we will still individually taint the world; the aggregated taint of our collective failing ruins it.
This is problematic because wrongs demand satisfaction. This must be the case: can you imagine a world in which wrongs do not? Think about an injustice that angers you – societal, environmental, personal. Multiply your indignance by every life ever lived, and you start (barely) to grasp the grief that God feels in surveying our broken world.
Oops. There’s the “G” word. Before you run screaming, hold up a sec. Don’t we want a universe in which righteous anger is both present and powerful – not just for “right to be on our side”, but for “the means of right” to Be? Who else can answer our indignant cry? Us? No, we cast our eyes down when asked who should be the target of that anger; it dawns on us that “trying my best” is merely an obfuscation of our guilt. Worse, in our guilt, we discover our most tragic weakness — that we lack the courage and integrity to hold ourselves accountable for the brokenness we so readily condemn.
In the face of this, to have God is to have hope.
Christians celebrate Easter because Jesus resolves this conundrum by stepping between Us and Wrath. If you’ve ever been forgiven, you know that one can feel liberated and obligated at the same time. The odd thing is, situated in the very eye of that contradiction, so much feels right. It feels right to be forgiven and to be freed from the burden of guilt; it feels right to forgive and to let go of the past; it feels right that the product of so much past guilt, shame and pain is so much present vulnerability, freedom, and renewal.
Forget the crowds, the bunnies, the chocolates, the eggs.
Easter is about God’s plan to make everything right.
And I adore him for it.
J/Jn3:16
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Will do. It impressed me deeply. The Cross, Jesus (the Word) and how His kingship was such a puzzle to the disciples and others! Ingenious!!! Thank you!!!
Love the play on words! Very thought provoking and insightful is this article.