well, it's all over. the eggs have all been found (except the ones we'll run over with the lawnmower sometime this spring). the candy has all been eaten, and what remains is in a bucket. the plastic easter grass is spread throughout the house, and wrapped around the beater bar of the vacuum. and soon the decorations and embellishments will be packed away until next year. even the hard boiled eggs have all been turned to egg salad by this point.
and Jesus is nicely packed away, back in his tomb, wrapped in his linen cloths so he won't be broken when we pull him out again next year, finding him right where we left him.
right?
or is there another way?
is there some way for us to keep Jesus out of the cardboard tombs of the basements of our hearts? is there someway to stop pretending that resurrection power is just strong enough to charge a rousing rendition of "christ the lord has risen today" on easter sunday and then needs a whole year of recharging before we can use it again? because that game stinks. like rotten eggs.
truth is, we don't know what to do with the power of Jesus. if we really allowed ourselves to believe for just a moment that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power we have to bring life out of the broken places (which is never our power, but God's power, through us), we would be terrified of just what we could do. or at least we should be. because Jesus said that his disciples would do greater things that he did, and i'm inclined to think that he meant it. despite my familiarity with plastic bunnies and chocolate eggs, i'm prone to believe that resurrection has alot more to do with what happens next, uncomfortable and overwhelming as it may be.
its time to let Jesus out of the tomb, friends. because he's not there. so there's no use acting like he is. he is out in the margins, among the least of these. he is wherever there are those who are lost and lonely. he is among the outcasts and the ne'er-do-wells. he is right there with the users and the abusers, the guilty and the lazy, as well as the used and abused, the victims and the ones who can't breath for the pressure in their chests. he is with those who weep silently at night, so they won't be heard, and those who run till their lives burn out, just so they won't have to face what they've done. he's with you, in the midst of your most profound failures. he's with me, in the moments when i am convinced that i am literally good for nothing. he's not in the tomb. he is risen! he is risen and resurrected and ripe with power beyond our wildest imaginations, power that heals the hurts, calms the storms, soothes the inflammation, illuminates the darkness, calls home the lost and ashamed, and brings to life the dead in us.
don't try and pack it away with the plastic eggs.
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