Why do you seek the living among the dead?

“Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.”

Thursday night was the night of betrayal – of trial, however illegal under Jewish custom and law. The end of the Holy Thursday liturgy indicates it’s a pretty bleak event. The altar is stripped of decoration. The priest covers the Hosts with his cope as though to protect the sacred body, and no hosts are left in the front of the church. The congregation leaves without exchanging greetings, without speaking. Just leave.

“Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised?”

On Good Friday, the trial that mattered – never mind legalities, a trial was legal if the Romans said it was.  Jesus is scourged. Scourging was, in and of itself, such a severe punishment that many did not survive it. He is stripped of his own clothes and is dressed in purple. Purple was a symbol of royalty, and this is a mockery of Jesus, King of the Jews. A crown of thorns is placed on his head. If you’ve ever been pricked by a rose’s thorn, you can imagine the pain and humiliation. He is beaten. He is spat upon. And when the mob is presented by Pilate with a choice – Jesus or Barabbas? – they shout for Barabbas to be released. As for Jesus? “Crucify him! Crucify him!” is the demand of the mob. Many of the members of that crowd were, doubtless, among those who greeted Jesus triumphantly just a few days earlier. Now: “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Guess I can’t preach to them. Would I have been any different? Would you? “Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do.”

They compel him to carry his own cross. And they crucify him, between two thieves. And he dies. This death was not like any other that anyone had seen. From about noon to three, darkness covered the face of the earth. Just before his death, Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”  When one was crucified the cause of death was usually suffocation, but thirst would not have been far behind. It was not a quick death; with no intervention to speed the process some would hang on the cross for days before merciful death came. Jesus cried with a loud voice. That, in and of itself, would have the Roman soldiers, who had likely seen dozens of crucifixions and who knew the expected course and outcome, wonder “Who is this? It seems like he commanded even the moment of his own death!” And then there was that bit about the veil of the temple being torn, top to bottom. Indeed – who was this? WHO??

No doubt, he was dead. That spear, and the blood and water flowing, clinched that. No doubt he was dead. He was buried by his own followers, in a new tomb in which no one had been buried. He was wrapped in burial cloths. A huge stone was rolled in front of the tomb.

He was dead.

One definition of death is that it’s the separation of body and spirit. That definition comes from Greek philosophy. This definition indicates that we have paid lots of attention to Plato, but not so much to the Hebrew Scriptures. In Jewish thought death meant the complete destruction of the individual – complete immolation of body and spirit. Once you were dead you were gone. More than once in the Psalms the Psalmist asks if God could receive any praise from the dead. It seems that the writer takes for granted that the answer is, “No – once dead, we are gone.  Completely.” The concept that there may have been any sort of personal immortality doesn’t arise until late in Old Testament times.

Jesus was dead. And yet. . .and yet. . .

“Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.”

Can you blame the women for being afraid? Wouldn’t we have been? And they didn’t understand immediately what was going on. Would we have?  In fact, the writer of the Gospel According to Mark left it at that. The original ending was the end of verse 8. Everything after that was an addition. “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

John Shea wrote a book called Stories of Faith. Toward the end are three poems, one of which is The Storyteller of God.  Every time I read that poem I choke up at several points. I won’t put the whole poem here. I will recommend strongly that you look up a copy of that book and read that poem. “He is not here, but he has been raised,” has meanings that are brought out by the passage toward the end:

A stone the size of twelve men

moved like a mountain on its way to the sea

and on the fresh wind of morning came the Son of Man,

his shroud a wedding garment,

his feet between earth and air in dance.

Death, Sin and Fate poured rhetoric

into the stirring air about them

but the silent Son of God only danced

to music beyond their words.

He whirled around Death

and with each turn

Death himself grew old

til with a last unbelievable look

he saw no more.

Then wordless

Christ spun around the words of Sin

til a stammer started, sound choked,

and finally there was only a mouth

without a voice.

Next Fate heard the risen footsteps

And frost formed on his tongue.

As Christ leapt before him,

he froze in mid-syllable,

iced by the warmth of God.

Now

there was only the morning

and the dancing man of the broken tomb.

The story says

He dances still.

That is why

down to this day

we lean over the beds of our babies

and in the seconds before sleep

tell the story of the undying dancing man

so the dream of Jesus will carry them to dawn.

He is RISEN!!! He is risen indeed!!!!

Could you not wait with me. . .

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."

Tonight - Holy Thursday or, depending on who's referring to it, Maundy Thursday - marked what was, in any earthly sense, the beginning of the end for Jesus. He had spent the last - year? three years? the record is uncertain - of his life preaching: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!"; teaching: "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me"; giving sight to the blind and freeing those possessed and curing the ill and even raising the very dead.

It had to come to this, didn't it? Someone who says things like "The first shall be last and the last shall be first" is bound to be a bit unsettling - downright scary - to the powers that be. Sadducees and Romans alike had to be unnerved by someone who was utterly indifferent to the power they thought they had. That raising the dead thing - this guy could be awfully hard to defeat. The Scribes - the teachers of the law - and the Pharisees had to be mightily put off by Jesus' insistence that all their wisdom, accumulated through all the ages, wasn't so wise after all.

He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here and stay awake with me."

If it was difficult to be an opponent of Jesus, being a disciple of his was no day at the beach, either. Still isn't, as you might have observed. He keeps making these outrageous demands of us. "Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also." Jesus - seriously? "I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. . .just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."

Jesus doesn't ask much of us. He just asks everything. All we are. All we can do. All we will ever be. If one would follow Jesus, then obeying Jesus is mandatory, not optional.

And the pressure got to one of the disciples. Too much for Judas, who betrayed Jesus and set in motion the events that came to a head on that Maundy Thursday.

But all Jesus wanted from Peter, James and John was the company of his friends on the most dangerous night of his life. But they couldn't do it.

Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray. . .,"

Could they not stay awake with me one hour? The question haunts me, even now. My prayer life - much of it - consists of just that. Stay awake with the Lord. Just listen. Rest in Him. It's not easy to stay awake with the Lord for an hour. But, if ever there was a night to pull an all-nighter with Jesus, Maundy Thursday is the night. I don't know that I'll manage an all-nighter. But sometime, after all are in bed, I will spend some quiet time with him.

On this night. On the night he was betrayed, with a kiss, no less. On the night he was arrested, and tried. On the night when Peter, no less than Judas, betrayed Jesus - three times before the cock crowed. On this night, let me be with you, even for a while, Lord.

Because everything you do, everything you suffer, even your death itself, is for me. And us.

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. . .See, my betrayer is at hand."

Thanks for hanging out. Loved your company. Would love your thoughts.

Reflections - apologies - repentance

We have come to the start of Holy Week. Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday, on which we observe the occasion of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. It has all the marks of a triumphal entry - people shouting, palms waving - but the triumph is later shown to be illusory. On Holy Thursday Jesus is arrested. That night - the trial. As unfair, as rigged as the trial was, it leads to Good Friday and the Crucifixion. It's entirely possible that some of the same people who were shouting "Hosanna!" the loudest on Palm Sunday were even louder in shouting "Crucify Him!" on Good Friday.

Holy Week is the culmination of Lent. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and, technically speaking, ends with the beginning of the Holy Thursday evening Mass. The beginning of that Mass starts three days - the Triduum - that form a liturgical season by themselves. Three days - Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and extending until the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday - that are the most holy, most sacred of seasons. Roman Catholics observe this; most Protestants do to some extent, and Eastern Orthodox do, although their calendar is usually about a week different from the Western calendar.

Lent, for these Christians, is a season of intensified reflection, repentance, prayer, almsgiving. Christians are not unique in observing such seasons. For Jews, this closely parallels the Days of Awe, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For Muslims, Ramadan resembles actions taken during Lent, although the purpose is (slightly!) different.

Lent. A time to get right with God, and with each other. Among other things. And so, since a lot of people who are very important to me may see this, I want to make right with you whatever I may have made wrong.

In the political realm, I am a liberal. Many of my friends and relatives are not. I do believe in healthy and vigorous debate, and I have no problem with the fact that others are not on the same side of issues as I. I have no apologies to make for my stance. However, if I have let it become personal, please know that I don't think of it that way. Please know that, if I have seemed dismissive of your positions - if I have seemed to not take your position seriously - that has not been my intention. I do take you seriously; you are every bit the patriot that I am, and you love our country every bit as much as I. I apologize if I have given the impression that I think otherwise. I served in the Navy so we could be free to differ with one another (OK, I didn't do that all by myself, but you get the idea.) I am deeply sorry if I have left the impression that I think there's only one position to take, and that's mine.

On the personal level, I get a bit pedantic at times. ("A BIT pedantic, Rick? Is the ocean a BIT wet?") To those whom I have put off by this tendency, to those to whom I have given offense, I sincerely apologize. I have been guilty of Hamartaeia. It's Greek, it literally means "missing the mark", and in the New Testament it is translated as "sin". If I have done any of this to any of you, please accept my apology.

On a societal level and on an environmental level, I am sorry for any part that I have played in perpetuating or even creating injustice in my little corner of the world. I am sorry for not having taken a strong enough stance to remove some of the injustice that exists. Please know that I am trying to make this better.

I confess to Almighty God,

And to you, my brothers and sisters,

That I have sinned through my own fault,

In my thoughts and in my words,

In what I have done and in what I have failed to do,

And I ask Blessed Mary, Ever Virgin,

All the angels and saints

And you, my brothers and sisters,

To pray for me to the Lord our God.

Thanks for hanging out for a few. I'd love to see your thought.

If you give someone a fish. . .

If you give me a fish, you feed me for a day.

I need some help on this, although I think I know the answer:

Is DWB still a traffic offense that will get you stopped by a police officer? For those who may not be aware, DWB is "Driving While Black." I'd only expand it to make it "Driving While Brown." Whatever shade.

My wife and I are involved with an organization called Quad City Interfaith - QCI for the remainder of this post. A large part of QCI's approach is to help the various congregations establish core groups of 10-30 members. Those groups are free to explore areas in which they may be able to, as the QCI mission statement says, create a more just society in the Quad Cities. QCI itself has four primary areas of concentration: immigration, education, employment and health care/transportation equity. The congregations' core groups may choose one of QCI's areas of focus, or they may pursue their own.

St. Mary's Catholic in Davenport had its first core group meeting last Tuesday. We discussed areas of concern, areas in which we could make a difference. It soon became obvious that the topics of immigration and racial profiling were on our minds and hearts.

We are aware of the limitations of organizations such as ours. To give one example, employment is a QCI concern. We know that QCI can't create a job. (Well, strictly speaking, QCI does create one: they hire an intern each year, usually from St. Ambrose University.) But while we know we can't create jobs, we can call attention to unfair hiring practices.

A picture in the newspaper tells a story without meaning to. There was a group photo taken of a work crew that was renovating a civic center in Rock Island. On that crew of ten or so people, not one was African-American. Seriously? Not one black person working on the MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CENTER, for crying out loud? Maybe the contractor has a lot of crews working. I hope so. Maybe those crews do have some diversification. I hope so. But, symbolically, if nothing else - isn't there something wrong with this picture?

If you teach me to fish then you have fed me UNTIL. . .

Until the river is contaminated or the shoreline seized for development.

Anyway, racial profiling and immigration are on our minds at St. Mary's.

Is DWB still an offense that will get you pulled over?

Two cases in point:

• A black male, in his early 20s, was pulled over for not using a turn signal. I've seen lots of drivers that have not used turn signals. I have not seen a police officer pull anyone over for this failure. What makes this interesting is that this police cruiser had followed this person for some distance, through some turns. The driver, acutely aware of the DWB thing, was scrupulous about using his turn signals every time he needed to. So, was the failure to use a turn signal an excuse to pull this person over? Did the officer follow this person for that distance  just waiting for some offense?
• A Latino driver had an officer approach his car. The driver's offense? He was talking on his cell phone - in his parked car - in a legal parking place. After some time in interviewing this driver, the officer asked, "What are you doing here?" It was a rather nice housing development, and this person was seemingly rather out of place. No ticket was issued, but someone was harassed. I'm sorry - what else would you call it?

And do you think that a Caucasian would have been pulled over in either instance? I doubt that I would have been, and I'm not even all Caucasian. You just can't tell by looking.

I'm fully aware that there are always questions, and before we start screaming "Prfofiling!!!" we must be sure of the details. If you're driving with a taillight out anyone anywhere would be pulled over, and if you didn't have a valid driver's license when you got pulled over you'd be in a world of hurt, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter when. But that wasn't the case in either of these instances.

So, my answer to "Will DWB still get you stopped?" my answer is, "Yes - in places and at times it happens."

And it's not right. Not ever. Not in any place.

So, our core group is setting up a meeting between our parishioners and members of the Davenport PD. We would like it to be a Q&A meeting, and we're exploring and discussing the format. We would have folks aware that if they are stopped despite their observance of law, there are things to do and not do - like, Get the officer's name and badge. They have to give that up. Get details and record them. Such as that.

QCI and our core group can't change the world. We know that. We can, and we will, strive to make our little corner of the world a more just place.

But if you teach me to organize then whatever the challenge I can join together with my peers and we will fashion our own solution.

Thanks for hanging out for a few. I'd love your reactions.