Christ is Risen – He is Risen in deed!

The Russian Communist leader- Nikolai Bukharin once travelled from Moscow to Kiev to promote the logic of atheism. On one occasion after haranguing the crowd for an hour with argument for atheism and ridicule of Christianity he finally demanded “Are there any questions?” expecting none. However, a solitary man stood up and asked permission to speak. His request was granted and after he had mounted the platform and moved close to Bukharin, he slowly scanned the audience, then he shouted out the ancient Orthodox greeting:

“CHRIST IS RISEN!”

The vast assembly seemed to wake up from their stupor and their response came crashing like the sound of an avalanche:

“HE IS RISEN INDEED!”

For those who attend a traditional Church Service on Easter morning may hear the same traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is Risen!” Whether the congregation responds with the same affirmation “He is risen indeed!” will depend on the local custom. However, this familiar Easter exclamation also reminds us that during the busyness and daily demands of life, our life and faith may need to be woken up!

We find a similar theme in the Gospel account of the first Easter Day which records that the disciples experienced two very real human experiences – that of fear and doubt.

Doubt might have been a natural human response for the disciples even though Jesus had already told them that he would rise from the dead – but the disciples knew that people do not normally reappear after they have died so their fear when they saw the risen Christ entering the room would also have been totally understandable,^{(1) .}even though the disciples would have seen and participated in the new and radical way of Jesus' behaving and believing – and their fear for their own life and future would have been real.

Jesus also knew and understood this as well – as he understands our fears and struggles. We see evidence of Jesus' care and concern in his first word to his disciples. It was one single word “ Peace!” Yet we know that the “peace” Jesus was referring to was not the absence of trouble, because many of his followers would also be rounded up and die. Rather the peace Jesus was referring to was the “Peace of presence” – which is the eternal 'Shalom of God' that fills us and completes us. It is not something we cling on to – rather it is a sense of wholeness that we grow into, which reminds me of the book, “God's Hotel” that I read some time ago and written by Dr Victoria Sweet, the Senior Medical Physician in a San Francisco. Hospital.

In “God's Hotel” Dr Sweet writes about the time she took leave from her busy Hospital Medical practice to walk the pilgrimage known as “The Way of St James”. The journey began in Paris and finally led her to the cathedral Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Because of her medical practice Victoria could only walk part of the pilgrimage each year – however, she discovered her pilgrimage continued to actively occur within her as she walked the corridors of the Hospital because ultimately, walking a pilgrimage was not simply something one did – it is something that affects who you become – as the disciples of Jesus discovered in the following poem by William Alexander Percy (1885-1 942),

They cast their nets in Galilee

just off the hills of brown;

such happy, simple fisher folk,

before the Lord came down.

Contented, peaceful fishermen,

before they ever knew

the peace of God that filled their hearts

brim full, and broke them too.

Young John who trimmed the/Zapping sail,

homeless in Patmos died,

Peter, who hauled the teeming net,

head-down was crucified.

The peace of God, it is no peace,

but strife closed in the sod,

Yet let us pray for but one thing --

the marvellous peace of God

The Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist, Thich Nath Hahn, also suggested a similar 'marvellous joy, peace and serenity' that is still available to us in every breath we breathe and in every step we take:

Peace is all around us,

in the world and in nature and within us,

in our bodies and our spirits.

Once we learn to touch this peace

we will be healed and transformed. ’  ⁽²⁾

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

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Footnotes:

1: Luke's Gospel 24:36-43

2. The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life