What’s Easter all about? Here’s one“Big Reveal.”
By Lenora Rand
Today is the BIG DAY in the Christian calendar.
It’s the day for the big reveal, like when the Fixer Upper people (yes, I have become a little obsessed with watching this TV show during lockdown...) finally show you how they’ve taken that incredible wreck of a house and LOOK…now it’s amazing! Now it’s all new!
It’s the day in many churches where you hear shouts of “Christ is Risen! Risen indeed!” Or those rousing hymns like, “Up from the grave He arose. With a mighty triumph o'er His foes.”
So, here’s the thing. I have a little trouble with All-Out-Joy…no one who knows me will find this surprising. It’s just that I always have questions. I have concerns. I have doubts.
Like on this day, I’ve always wondered, “What’s it all mean? Why does it matter?”
I’ve heard, of course, it’s so we would all see God’s power over death. But then you’ve got to ask, yeah, but, if God has power over death, why just use that power for Jesus? We all have people we care about who’ve died - what about them?
And after the year we’ve all lived through with Covid, after years and years of greed- and fear- and hate- and “I’m right”- and racism-driven deaths, why just use that power for Jesus?
As I was looking at the suggested scriptures from the Revised Common Lectionary today, this verse stood out for me from Acts 10:34.
Peter said, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another."
Yep, it seems like Peter may have been struggling with what it all meant and what it all means, too. And then he gets it. As he says: This was all so we could see that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another.
NOW IF YOU’RE NOT A CAT PERSON, YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS, BUT CATS LOVE SMALL BOXES.
While laughing at the ridiculousness and absurdity of my cat Max stuffed in a box the other day, it suddenly hit me: us humans have our boxes too, just not such obvious ones, perhaps. And we love them just as much - maybe more - than cats love theirs. We have comfy boxes of “People Like Me” and “People I Agree With.” And “Who Matters Most.” “Who’s Worth Listening To.” And also “Cool People I Want To Be Like” and “People I Want To Be Admired By.”
But on Easter, the big reveal of Jesus’ resurrection, according to Peter, is this:
God doesn’t have boxes of people God approves of/likes/listens to/takes care of. God’s love and grace and mercy is not just for some of us, for other people who look like us, talk like us, think like us, identify like us, believe like us.
God doesn’t do little boxes.
JESUS RESURRECTION IS THE BIG REVEAL THAT NOTHING CAN LIMIT GOD’S LOVE.
Jesus’ resurrection is the big reveal of a new kind of house we are all invited to live in. A house where the walls are torn down and love has the final word.
Jesus’ resurrection is the big reveal that God’s love is here. And there. And everywhere. And it doesn’t play favorites. It’s for all of us. For me. For you. For him and her and them and us.
That seems like good news worth celebrating I’ve got to say…something that fills even my heart with all-out-joy on this Easter day.
LOOKING FOR A SONG FOR TODAY? YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE A LISTEN TO THIS ONE FROM THE MANY.
Thanks for reading. Want to read more?
You will find more of Lenora’s writing on the Chicago Tribune’s blogging platform, Chicago Now in a blog called Spiritual Suckitude.
Lenora also writes frequently for The Plural Guild, the music, art & liturgy collective she co-founded, to create resources for people of faith and doubt committed to seeking justice, who love kindness and who are trying to walk humbly on this earth. And she is the lyricist for the band, The Many.
Along with that, Lenora, who basically never sleeps, helps run a branding and marketing consultancy called SmallGood, helping nonprofits, social enterprises and for-profit positive impact companies grow their good.