The resurrection of Jesus is a victory both of life over
death and of forgiveness over the power of sin and retribution. It is a victory
of love. And in this victory is a call to union in the life and the mercy
proclaimed through the risen Christ.
On a very practical note, without
the resurrection the disciples of Jesus would not have fully grasped their own
forgiveness. With the resurrection, however, the despondent and probably
guilt-ridden friends of Jesus begin to learn something new: they learn that the
forgiveness Jesus has been preaching is an energy that changes lives, including
their own. ...
Retribution would be a natural human response to being unjustly
arrested, abandoned by friends, tortured, and
executed, once one had returned in a body freed from earthly limitations.
Instead the friends of Jesus experience that there is no vindictiveness in him,
which means that there is none in God. In spite of
any appearances to the contrary, love and goodness have triumphed. God is in
control of the universe, and they themselves are forgiven.
[For more, see That God May Be All in All: Christian Life and Sacred Paradox, Chapter IV.]
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The photograph for today has little obvious relation to the reflection above, but I took it early last evening (Holy Saturday), and it delighted me. We don't ordinarily see rabbits in our courtyard, but here was one (an Easter bunny?) nestled in the grass, seemingly unafraid of the two of us who were there. He (or she) just wiggled its nose at us, followed us with eyes and a gentle shift of the head, but made no move to run off. This morning she was gone.
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