Now that Easter is over, what do we talk about? Well, we talk about Easter! And so we retell the early stories again and again becasue there are precious few of them, stories that have grown in the telling. We get very busy attempting to persaude folk of resurrection but seeing these texts as proof-texts of resurrection is perhaps not what they are about, but rather the next chapter in the continually unfolding story of faith.
In the stories Jesus sits with the disciples and unpacks the scriptures. It says that in the text. But Jesus was never a proof-texter, offering verses that give undeniable proof of some fact or event but opens up the "pattern of scripture" where the whole unfolding story of God is told. It's about posibility, about affirmation, about grace, about future and about now. In my mind that is what the whole gospel is about, not bundles of evidence that such and such happened. Resurrection faith and resurrection stories are about offering a kingdom-way of seeing the world where you can't just get rid of what you don't like, but that life is tenacious and justice is stronger than evil, and love can conquer all.
Resurrection faith is a way of engaging with people that offers the possibility of new chances and a belief in transformation, in knowing what shapes us and what we can let shape who we are yet to be.
These stories we are given this season, of sightings and wonderings of Jesus open up life and let the light in where it didn't stretch before. This is Easter and let's do it all again this Sunday, and the next. Perhaps the more we talk about it, the better the chance we'll trust it's truth and let it change not just ourselves and how we engage with the world, but the world itself. That seems the most persausive evidence of resurrection there is. Happy Easter.
Recent Comments