Resurrection: It Takes a Second Look

Resurrection: It Takes a Second Look

Seeing things as they truly are usually takes time. How else can we explain that no one—no one!—noticed the resurrected Jesus right away? Seeing the resurrection requires a second look, another glance. It takes a while for our eyes to adjust to the light of the resurrection, and then everything in life looks radically different… Seeing God’s “new thing” is about perceiving an old thing in a new way through a new lens. 

Such is the miracle of Gospel sight—to see what has always been there in a completely new way that makes it feel like something new. This is always a work of grace, and we can only handle so much of it at one time.—Kris Rocke and Joel Van Dyke in Geography of Grace, Doing Theology from Below from Daily Quote, InwardOutward/ Church of the Saviour, InwardOutward.org, April 30, 2019.

When friends ask what life must be like in the resurrection, I remind them that our only stories are about the resurrected Jesus. After the resurrection, the disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Him. Mary Magdalene did not recognize Him. The disciples meeting Jesus on the beach were unsure of His identity. Jesus came and went through closed doors. The resurrected Jesus gave fishing tips, cooked meals, and ate dinner with His friends. 

The Easter season is the perfect time to read and meditate on the resurrected Jesus’ appearances on Easter Day and throughout the following forty days (Acts 1:3-8).

We are most familiar with several Easter Day accounts of Jesus’ appearances: Mary Magdalene in John, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in Matthew, Mary Magdalene and the Galilean women in Luke, two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke, and disciples in the upper room when Thomas is absent and then present in John. 

Caravaggio national gallery London

The resurrected Jesus appears at least 12 times. This Easter Season is an excellent time to practice Ignatian meditative practices, imagining ourselves in more unfamiliar scenes.  

Jesus appeared to the disciples eight days after the resurrection (John 20:24-29), with Thomas present in the upper room. He also appeared to seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee, asking Peter to feed His sheep (John 21). Additionally, Jesus appeared on a hillside in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20), possibly to over 500 people, as referenced by Paul (1 Corinthians 15:6). Jesus was later seen by His brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7). His final appearance was the Great Commission, after the disciples returned to Jerusalem and were led out to Bethany at the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50-52, Acts 1:9-11). We also know that Paul encountered Jesus a few years later on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:5, 1 Corinthians 15:8). 

The fact that people struggle to recognize Jesus reveals at least two things. First, the resurrection is so powerful that it's almost impossible to believe at first. Second, Jesus looks different after the resurrection. 

May we, in turn, learn from these stories about the different resurrection life in this life and the next.

1Msgr. Charles Pope, Blog, April 9, 2012, blog.adw.org

From his Native American heritage, Bishop Steven Charleston often reminds us that we got through the pandemic and social and racial unrest with the help of those who love us in the resurrection in the next life. Through them, God prays, walks beside us, and nudges us to care for ourselves and others.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

The Easter Vigil

Easter Vigil 1

Episcopal Church of the Messiah California

“Dear friends in Christ: On this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer.” —Book of Common Prayer (Church Publishing, 1979), p. 285.

The Easter Vigil is one of the church's most intricate and beautiful services of the year. The challenge is that it happens only once a year, making it hard to remember all the small details each time. As a result, there can sometimes be more chaos than the church would like on this evening. However, this also adds to its beauty: light and creation emerging from chaos. The service begins with lighting the Paschal candle from a fire, usually outdoors. The large, lit candle then enters the church into total darkness. 

The deacon carries the Paschal candle as they light the congregation’s candles while singing “The Light of Christ” three times in a slightly higher pitch. The deacon then chants the beautiful Exsultet.

It is time for me to pass the Exsultet to someone else. I have loved singing the Exsultet for over seventeen years. It has been a privilege. Our former deacon at St. Mark’s, Susan, sang the Exsultet for three years. I enjoyed listening to her practice and beautifully singing it from her heart. Michael, one of our priests, chanted it the following year, and our rector, Barkley, now chants the Exsultet. 

Old Testament readings about God’s history with His people follow the Exsultet. Next come baptisms, crying babies, and curious toddlers escaping from their parents, all still in the dark. Finally, the cacophony of the loud noise from bells of every size announces that Christ has risen indeed. The lights come on, and we see all the flowers of Easter decorating the inside of the church. Then, we celebrate the first new Eucharist of the Easter season. 

The service might be like what the women carrying spices experienced when they arrived at the empty tomb on that early Easter morning. They saw one or two angels in dazzling white, telling them they were the first to learn that Jesus had risen from the dead!

This is the Easter message: Jesus defeated death and rose from the dead. We will rise from the dead. We also have the promise that we will find resurrection amid all the suffering and unnecessary deaths caused by a virus and the social and racial injustice in our world. This year, we especially pray for peace and resurrection for the people of Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, and the people in our state still suffering from previous tornadoes.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Good Friday and the Women Who Weep

Good Friday

“The courageous women who weep…”—John 18:1-19:42.

“On Good Friday, so much focus is rightfully on Jesus’ suffering on the cross. But let’s look down below him and see the courageous women of John’s story. In memory of them, let us pray for women who today will weep for their children, refusing to be comforted. And let us hold in prayer the women in today’s Golgothas who, in the face of horrible suffering, somehow find the strength to hold each other up.”—Eileen D. Crowley, “Sunday’s Coming” in The Christian Century (4/11/2017).

In Arkansas, starting on Easter Monday, 2017, eight executions were scheduled over ten days because one drug had an expiration date at the end of that month. There had been no executions for twelve years. I remember that earlier execution well, because I was a deacon at our cathedral, which is close to the governor’s mansion. Eric Nance was executed for the death of 18-year-old Julie Heath. We held an ecumenical prayer service for both the person to be executed and the person he killed. I played the harp at the service, probably the African American spiritual, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” Afterwards, we went to the governor’s mansion and sang and prayed by candlelight until after the execution.

All the men on death row had killed young women. I wonder what these girls are praying for now in eternal life, and if they are lighting candles. Some stories about the men reveal that they had terrible lives with a lack of love from women, like those who followed Jesus.

My prayers today are that governors across our country will halt executions, and ultimately, this state will abolish the death penalty.

My third prayer is that we will do our best to raise strong and loving women, like the ones at the cross with Jesus, so their children will understand love and avoid violence against others, especially women.

Meditate on this image from the Chapel of Joseph or Arimathea at the National Cathedral. Reflect on the wrongful death of Jesus today. Also, pray for the many people around the world who are unjustly suffering and dying. Remember those who are ill or have died because of the recent epidemic. Keep in your thoughts those still enduring the effects of the tornadoes. Pray for the families, women, and children in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, the Middle East, and Sudan.

I share with you a Good Friday poem by my childhood friend, Zane Baker, a loving and strong woman from Winston-Salem.

Think of the many crosses we live

The Thrills/ and Tough Times

The Tall Trees/ Torn Trunks

The Terrifying Tempest/or Tender Tranquil

The Tiny/ the Tremendous

The unTouchable Twinkles alofT

All Tended with love.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/