With the glorious resurrection and forgiveness of Easter upon us and with Pope Francis' exclamation of the meaning of God's Love in his Easter speech it seems a great time to throw out a challenge for the day (if not a lifetime). First let us soak up the Easter meaning in the words of Pope Francis:
What a joy it is for me to announce this message: Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family, ...
Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God always triumphs!
What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom. The love God can do this!
This same love for which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell – to the abyss of separation from God – this same merciful love has flooded with light the dead body of Jesus, has transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope.
What a great way of describing the Transformative effect of the Risen Lord and how His Forgiveness is the way of opportunities, the way of "opening us to a future of hope." The idea of this opportunity to re-imagine God's Love comes after watching Evan Almighty, a warm & fuzzy modern day version of the story of the flood and Noah building the ARK.So first let us get re-acclimated to the story - Gen 6:9-9:17 ...
Now "opening us to a future of hope," watch the clip from the movie where Al Mighty masterfully creates a safe space within the heart of downcast Joan Baxter so she has an opportunity to wrestle with a different version of love.
Joan asks, "Well, what is the story about, the ARK?"
Al Mighty responds, "... well, I think it is a love story, about believing in each other, ... everyone entered the ARK side-by-side."
He then continues, "...sounds like an opportunity. Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, do you think that God gives them patience or does He give them the opportunity to be patient? If one prays for courage does God give them courage or the opportunity to be courageous? If someone prays for the family to be closer do you think God actually wants them to have warm fuzzy feelings or does He give them opportunities to love each other?"
Now let us ponder the opportunity: If the story of the ARK is NOT about God's wrath and anger but rather it is a love story then could it be that wherever we interpret God's wrath in scripture that we are actually projecting our own violence in place of, or to avoid, God's Love?
As I understand Pope Francis' Easter message as saying that we first need to allow a safe space to be created in our hearts to bloom so that our eyes may be opened so as to witness just who it is we are wrestling with. Instead of reading the flood story as representing God's wrath and anger; what if we read Gen 6:11-12: "Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence," ... full of violence: the earth was flooded with OUR resentment, wrath & anger; OUR violence. ... Humm, so are we not like the disciples on the road to Emmaus as we reflect on Pope Francis' message? What does it mean that Jesus is risen? ... it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom!
The Emmaus Road Story sheds the light of Easter on a way of reading the texts of the Old Testament - Jesus as Interpreter. What we get from the disciples' encounter along the road to Emmaus is that the teaching of Christ is being passed from those who are being forgiven to those who are being forgiven. God so loved us that He give us an opportunity to approach the flood narrative in Genesis (and all of Scripture) through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
You know that just a few days ago on Good Friday, we have Jesus left alone yet still faithful to the God of life, not giving in to the flood of voices shouting, "Away with him! Away with him!" Are not these voices the desperate cries of those stuck in the abyss of separation from God, as Pope Francis referred to in his Easter message?
* Let us look deeper, isn't Jesus swept up in the flood of our violence? In fact, isn't he the victim of it? For three days, at least. But, no! The cross and tomb are really his ARK! Being sealed up in the tomb has really been his ARK of salvation. For in three days, Jesus emerges as the only one to truly survive the flood of violence. And this time God's act of salvation will be the one to finally change history - which is to say, Jesus' imitation of God's self-emptying Love, the empty tomb, opens us to a future of hope. This hope is not some 'me-and-Jesus' myth of pop-Christianity rather, Jesus Christ is risen to begin life, to begin creation, AGAIN! By this Gift of being forgiven, we are presented the opportunity to start anew. He does so as the One who can help us go beyond the floods of violence so we may reach the shore of forgiveness - a spaciousness in the heart, a place where there is no rivalry suggesting that the true purpose of forgiveness is the creation of a new WE - not just a new me, but a new us. Now THAT is an ARK of salvation.
Just as 'Al Mighty' called Evan Baxter (Noah) out of the rising tide of violence, so too with Jesus' help, we can survive the scandal and dictatorship of today's relativism that cause so many to be swept up into the abyss of separation from God. Increasingly, the scandal of relativism, like floods of violence, get people all worked up easily sweeping them into the abyss, but do not despair, there are the remnant who resist and stay faithful.
Going back to the opportunity laid out before us, pause and reflect on the rising conflict(s) in your own life - at home; at work; even now in our nation. Be aware how easy is it to get swept up with the chorus singing; Crucify him, crucify him.
At one point in the movie Evan was abandoned: just like Noah and just like Jesus, we too can expect that lonely feeling as we try to remain faithful when so many are caught up in the violence of our culture's relativism when God's Love is proclaimed.
This same love for which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell – to the abyss of separation from God – this same merciful love has flooded with light the dead body of Jesus, has transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope.
* See Pastor Paul J. Nuechterlein and his sermon on Surviving the Floods of Violence.
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