Of course, that is not the part of the story that motivates me. I am not seeking to be abused and betrayed, let down by my best friends and hunted by those in power. I may recognize the necessity of suffering, but by no means do I seek it out. I think most of us gravitate towards the triumphant victory and joy of Jesus\’ resurrection
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Pentecost, don’t forget Pentecost. I wonder why there are worries about teaching Easter and we keep forgetting to teach about a group of followers waiting and suddenly inspired by the Spirit.
dear Meg,
thank you for this welcome lifting up. It has given me another perspective to add to the “pieces” of the mystery.
Nicole
The earliest written understanding of what “resurrection” was about: that this was God’s vindication of Jesus as among the righteous, even the first among them to be raised from death– ie affirming that this was a case of martyrdom in support of God’s will– and that “God’s will” was as Jesus had said.
Also, given that there’d been no prior notion of resurrection as an attribute of “The Messiah”, it is odd to have the bulk of early Christians laying so much stress on the resurrection as a sign that Jesus was God’s choice for that role. It did become, of course, a necessity after Jesus’ death: Only a live and embodied person would be able to carry out the functions of a Messiah, ie ruling Israel.
So all of these things, as you say, are best seen as elements of a coherent whole.
The Passion narrative is the early Christians’ attempt to make sense of the fact that their beloved Rabbi was executed by the Romans, that he was condemned to a death reserved for rebellious slaves and insurrectionists. The timeline furnished by the Gospels indicate that Jesus’ arrest and execution followed upon his cleansing of the Temple. Hence, a dangerous upstart, a nuisance to the authorities. The Resurrection tradition is early Christians’ conviction that the Rabbi was still with them, was still present in their midst, and that they in turn should put his teachings into practice. Tolstoy said it best in The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You: “The fulfillment of [Christ’s] doctrine lies in a continual progress toward the attainment of a higher truth, and in the growing realization of that truth within one’s self, by means of an ever-increasing love; as well as a more keen realization of the kingdom of God in the world around us.”
It is also possible that we hold up these different aspects of Jesus’ life during different chapters in our own. Part of the deep appeal of Scripture is that it is so rich and complex. Jesus’ life too is rich and complex and we can meet Him where ever we are in our own walk. When I suffer, I can try and enter in to Jesus’ time in Gethsemene, or perhaps I will choose to seek him as Shepherd, longing to feel his comforting presence. i do not find that Jesus in all three aspects all at once is how I relate to Him. Rather, in all his aspects, no matter where I am spiritually, emotionally or physically, some aspect of Jesus is available to me.