Easter Sunday

Easter
March 26, 2005

"This is the day the Lord has made..." (Psalm 118) "Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough...let us celebrate...with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (I Corinthians 5: 6-8) "... They did not yet understand... that he had to rise from the dead." (Luke 24: 13-35)

The women are the first to reach Jesus' tomb, followed closely by several disciples, competing with each other to see who could get their first. (Isn't that just like us men?) They don't know what to make of what they see. The empty tomb is the symbol of our confidence and hope that life triumphs over death. We still have a hard time understanding what it means. We get distracted by making it a proof of doctrines, and lose the essential mystical truth: with God, death becomes life.

How can the stench and decay of death become the sweet smell of new life? A close friend of mine speaking recently at the memorial service for his brother wrote the following. "... We may seem to just grow old and die.... (but) when people die it is like the passage from winter to spring, when the world gets warmer and greener and everywhere flowers and trees are springing to new life. When we die, we enter into a new spring, and eventually the whole world will join us in the new and unending springtime."

Our spiritual ancestors, moving from place to place in the harsh, unforgiving environment of the desert, did not have time to wait for the dough to rise. Their unleavened bread was their sign of trust in the Most High to bring them through to safety. It was essential nourishment of body and soul without frills or anything unnecessary. St. Paul's metaphor of yeast in the bread dough also reminds me of helping my grandmother knead the dough, waiting for it to rise (it seemed like it took forever) so we could get on with the baking and the pleasure of eating warm fresh bread. The waiting is over. God is our yeast. We are the rising dough preparing for the best part, a feast of the senses.

I am made aware of this every time someone I love walks through my door. Early this morning a friend was here to get me ready for the day. Just now Jane brought me my favorite breakfast, an egg burrito. Later other friends and family will be here to help us out in many ways. I will have the privilege of seeing beloved clients. I will be in contact by e-mail and phone with many others whom we love and who love us. All our days filled with people like this. This is the empty tomb, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, the rising dough, the promise of Spring and new life. "This is the day the Lord has made..."