The Gospel of John

Where'd He Go?

There is weeping, there are tears, there's the shock of loss. The center of their lives is... dead? They carry the body away.

Worm food. When people die, they're dead. Get used to it and move on. Jesus' body lies on cold, uncaring stone, like any other deceased. Just ask Joseph and Nicodemus, who took the body down from the cross, wrapped it in cloth and spices, and carried it to the new tomb. They knew. Jesus was dead.

History is full of dead gods. They come in, are popular for a time, and then go out of fashion for no better reason than clothing or car colors. One set of little ceramic figurines gets pushed back on the family altar to make room for the new ones. "Maybe this time we'll get what we deserve. We'll get gods who will do what we want. Or at least they won't cause us too many problems. Capricious things they are."

"Peter! John!"
The two disciples look up, dazed faces turning toward Mary. They look like two ships without rudders. "Now, what?"
"Somebody took the Lord's body!"
They all dash off, John getting there first (love is a powerful stimulant) and find the tomb open and empty. Nobody home.
"Mary, did you fold up this cloth?"
"No, I didn't even go in there."

"If you destroy this temple, I will raise it again in three days," Jesus had said. The Pharisees all had looked at the big stone structure and wondered what he was talking about.

The truth of the matter is so far outside their experience that it takes several appearances of a lively and warm Jesus to convince them that the usual laws of human life have been torn apart. Jesus isn't in the tomb any more. Body and all, he's alive. He has passed through death, and can now show us the way to do the same.

Jesus had to die. That was the plan he and his father made. All of human history leads to that singularity. We all know death. We see it all the time, small-scale and large-scale. Nobody ever comes back. We don't think about life. Jesus knows death and life. He died for us, so that he could bring us a life that isn't ruled by death. Look forward. No stone can hold us down.

posted by Larry @ 5:54 AM