dead man

Good Friday

I’ve been thinking this week about what was going on, that last day of Jesus’ life. What struck me this time was one short sentence I read in a book...

“Two men, in the fading light, do what has to be done.”

Doing what has to be done. Burying a man. We ridicule truth, we crucify the WAy, The Truth, and THE Life, hope dies. What it looks like is burying the beat-up body of a man because that’s all that’s left to do, and it has to be done. So Joseph and Nicodemus buried the body of Jesus. They buried their Hope, and that was it. Nothing else to do. Humanity had just sent humanity to the grave. What’s left after that? We did it to ourselves, but what do you do without hope?

Except that Jesus didn’t stay dead. The dead body of a man, the visible, logical outcome of turning against God, didn’t stay dead. Rejecting truth couldn’t make it untrue, killing hope didn’t leave it dead, burying love proved that it doesn’t fit at all in a grave.

There’s nothing left in the way if dead bodies of men don’t stay dead. The worst that men can do isn’t actually enough to limit God. What now, if truth can’t be made untrue? What do you do if Hope doesn’t disappoint? What if the Way can’t be shut? What happens when love is indestructible?

The veil is torn...