CHRIST IS RISEN! IS HE INDEED?
"The
Lord has risen , indeed...."
"Why are
you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?"
Luke 24:33-38
Why are we so frightened, and why do doubts keep arising in
our hearts? That is the question the
risen Christ keeps asking us as he asked the disciples in Jerusalem that first evening of Easter.
In reflecting on the question I am conflating two stories that Luke
connects. The story of the two
travellers on the road to Emmaus who encountered Jesus over their evening meal
and hastened back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples: "the Lord has
risen indeed" they exclaim! Is he
indeed? they might have responded with scepticism, as do many of us to this day.
Then Jesus appears again to them all.
They are understandably startled and terrified, which prompts Jesus to
ask them "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your
hearts?" They had great difficulty
in accepting the testimony of the two from Emmaus; they wanted more proof. Like them, we who have heard and believed the good news, and
even exclaimed with great enthusiasm "Christ is risen! Alleluia!", are
not always so sure. Risen? Indeed? Is that why we too are often frightened as
doubts arise in our hearts? Is it
because for us he remains in the tomb rather than journeying with us on the
road?
There is much to be fearful about, not least the terror that
strikes without warning, and there are so many reasons to doubt the loving
power of God. We might have been spared
terrorist attacks in South Africa thus far, but we have our share of fears
about the future and our own personal fate.
This has always been the case. It
is built into the rhythm of life. We know that life is a risk, for we are acutely
aware of our own mortality and the mortality of those we love. Even as we celebrate Easter and heartily sing
that death has lost its sting, or acclaim "Christ is risen!", even as
we celebrate the joys of life, even as we taste the sweetness of love, we know
that being human requires that we accept our mortality. Even great saints go through dark nights of doubt.
So the one who travels with us along our journey, the one who
has suffered greatly, been betrayed, denied and forsaken, is the one who asks
us why we are frightened and why we doubt. He is not judging us for our fear
and doubt, in fact he knows why we are frightened and why we doubt because he
has himself been to hell and back. And
just as some cholesterol is good and necessary for us and some bad and
potentially deadly, so like a good physician Jesus knows that not all fear or
doubt is bad. Good fear helps us avoid
danger, genuine doubt helps us discover new knowledge and may even strengthen
our faith. But whether our fear and
doubt is good or bad, you cannot live life to the full if you are fearful of
venturing along the road, unable to trust the testimony of others or God. So Jesus understands and respects our fears, he
does not manipulate them like some politicians, preachers and other
fear-mongers who use our fear s to their advantage, making us doubt what is
right and good and true. That is why Jesus keeps asking us at every
turn, up every cul-de-sac, and at every fork that we face: "Why are you
frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?"
I have been reading the life story of Brother Roger the
founder and abbot of the Taizé Community in France whose songs we now often
sing. The autobiography, called Choose to Love, is a beautiful account
of a remarkable life. In it Brother Roger tells us about the
founding of the Community during the terrible days of the Second World War ,and
how he feared for his life as he provided a place of refuge for Jews on the run
from the Gestapo. In later chapters he recounts
his visits to many parts of the world where there is great suffering and
hardship, and where, for weeks on end he lived among the poorest of the poor. He also tells about visits to countries in
Eastern Europe during the Cold War and how difficult it was for Christians there
even to openly meet with him for fear of arrest of punishment. On one occasion in Budapest there was a youth
service to welcome him, but it was under strict security surveillance. After the distribution of communion, Brother
Roger writes, "I go from one person to another to say in Hungarian
"Christ is risen!" That is all
he can say. That is all he needs to
say. That evening he goes to another church, it is full to capacity with young
people, many of them dealing with doubt and fearing the surveillance of the
police, and once more he says: "Christ is risen": "these are the
only words that I say, hundreds of times," and each time they evoke an
expression of hope on the faces of people, for Brother Roger has spoken
directly to their fears and doubts far more than any sermon or lecture could
ever have done.
The Easter message "Christ is risen! Alleluia!" resounds
through history to help us overcome fear and doubt. But it is not a carefully reasoned statement
that will magically turn the fearful into the faithful or doubters into
believers. Such reasoned arguments are
necessary. After all Jesus reasoned with
the two travellers as they discussed Scripture during the meal they shared
together. But the acclamation "Christ
is risen! Alleluia!" is the shout of those who have already met the
stranger on the road and discovered as they have travelled with the risen
Christ who enables them to overcome fear and doubt despite those that continue
to beset them and niggle their minds.
Those who shared in our Easter service here last Monday when
we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the Volmoed Community will know that
we did not have to prove that Christ is risen, we acclaimed him, and we did so
because those who came to celebrate, many of them having struggled and suffered
over the years, knew that the risen Christ had joined them on the road along
the journey of their lives.
When you are in the midst of poverty or grief, when you face
tragedy, or are living in fear of
arrest, you do not take time out to engage in academic debate about the resurrection
or to discuss and analyse the crises facing our world. What you hunger for is a word of assurance that
gives hope and awakens faith, a word that liberates you from your captivity in the
cold tombs of death and leads us through an open door out of its darkness into the light. As Pope
Francis declared in his Easter Vigil homily: "Let us not allow darkness
and fear to distract us and control our hearts.
Today is the celebration of our hope." The Easter message, he went on to say,
"awakens and resurrects hope in our hearts burdened by sadness." In another Easter meditation posted on
Facebook this week I came across this appeal:
May you leave behind you a string of empty tombs! That is the
challenge of Easter. To resurrect daily, to leave behind us a string of empty
tombs, to let our crucified hopes and dreams be resurrected so that like
Christ, our lives will radiate the truth that in the end, everything is good,
reality can be trusted.’
So as we
celebrate this meal like the two travellers who invited Jesus to share at their
table on the road to Emmaus, we too discover
Jesus "in the breaking of the bread" and can shout with them and
multitudes across the world even in the midst of our fears and doubts: "Christ
is risen! Alleluia!".
John de Gruchy
Volmoed 31 March 2016
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