There’s a lot that can be really disturbing. A friend calls with scary medical news; I’m starting to worry about my own health. I look at the stock market and become obsessed with money: will we ever have enough for retirement? I read a news report and see only suffering in the world. My whole sense of well-being is thrown into disarray.
What I need to remind myself of – what is exactly in the celebration of Easter – “Give it some time. Give it three days.” Change is happening. After complete horror, good things can come. Give it three days.
Let me return to an old story, certainly apocryphal, but sweet and helpful.
A woman goes to church on Easter Monday and as she leaves, she pauses to chat with a disheveled woman selling corsages and boutonnieres on the stairs – a meager way to make a living. And yet, despite her appearance, the old lady is full of smiles.
I LOST MY BABY DAUGHTER BUT GOD’S LOVE CAN HELP US LOSS THIS CHRISTMAS
“How is that even possible?” the woman coming out of church wonders. She stops and talks to the lady.
Don’t deny it. The flower seller suffered. She reveals that. But Easter just happened. What a comfort there is in that. The pain and horror of Good Friday were transformed into the power and mystery of the Resurrection. The magic of three days. “Whatever happened to you,” she says, “just wait three days.”
As has often been noted, it is the women in the Bible who experienced the horror firsthand; Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Mary the mother of Jesus, other women. It depends on which gospel account you read. None of Jesus’ disciples are depicted as witnesses to the crucifixion. It is the women who persevere, no matter how terrible it must have been.
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But who then will be the first to witness the empty tomb, going there on the first day of the week, taking spices to anoint the body, and discovering that the huge stone that guards it has been rolled away? It’s the women. An angel tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead. They were going to tell the men. As the Gospel of Mark puts it, “They went out and fled from the grave, for fear and amazement had seized them….”
In John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene, who is sitting there weeping, actually sees the risen Jesus, but does not recognize him until he says her name, “Mary.” Wow, isn’t that powerful? We know who Jesus is when He calls us by name.
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Every year our church holds a three-hour service on Good Friday. Uhm. I go and listen to the gospel story. Sometimes fellow parishioners act out the passion story. It’s all so sad. Do we have to tell it again, relive it, year after year?
And yet there is a useful lesson in all of this. Yes, we are in pain. We are witnessing terrible suffering. It’s important not to run and hide from it. Recognize it. Take it in. Deal with it. See if and what it can teach you. As the great priest and teacher Richard Rohr says, we learn from two things: love and suffering.
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Note to self: be aware of your own suffering and that of the world. Because there is something profound on the other side. You will see the truth in all its wonder and beauty. What should you do? Just wait. Go for a walk. Sit in quiet meditation. Put the phone away for a moment. Talk to a caring friend. Grab a book. Put it down. Whatever. Wait a few days.
Wait three days. There’s no telling what you’ll see.
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