The Resurrection of the Lord
There is a field of theology that is rarely mentioned but widely experienced - theodicy. Theodicy deals with reconciling God’s goodness with human suffering. The passion, suffering, and death of Jesus, for example. Where was God when Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me” from the cross? This was the question that was posed to us as seminarians by the professor in our first ever theodicy class. His answer still remains fresh in my memory. He said, “God was closest to his Son on the cross. Jesus may not have felt that way. But in his excruciating moments God held Jesus closest to God’s heart. After all, Jesus’ final words were, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
I would like to reflect on Easter from the perspective of God who is all good.
The Resurrection: The Tenderness of God
God sent Jesus to redeem humankind. As he began his ministry, opposition began to build. It reached a point where it became impossible for Jesus to continue. Finally, they unleashed pure cruelty and brutality on him. But Jesus endured the suffering and surrendered his life on the cross. Now, he was dead. He lay in a dark lifeless tomb. The cross and the tomb display the ugliness of sin. The cross and the tomb tell us why humanity needed to be redeemed. God may not have planned it this way, but despite the rejection, the brutality, the cruelty, and the inhumanity, Jesus accomplished the task of human redemption. God’s plan was fulfilled.
Now that human redemption is accomplished, now that Jesus suffering is over, now that God’s plan in fulfilled, God picks up the lifeless body of his beloved Son and holds it tenderly to God’s heart. God holds Jesus’ bruised body and breathes life into it. Behold, the resurrection! If the cross was a display of the ugliness of sin, Easter is a display of the tenderness of God.
Tenderness for the Children
Easter is not only God’s tenderness for Jesus. Easter is God’s tenderness for humankind. After all, God sent Jesus to redeem humanity. In his life, words, and ministry, Jesus always preached the tender love of God. Now that Jesus had redeemed humanity, God’s tenderness for humanity reaches new heights. Doesn’t Paul say, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him” (Rom 5:8-10)?
When God picked up the body of Jesus and tenderly held him close to God’s heart, God also held humanity in God’s arms. God picked up the rest of humanity that was victim of the ugliness of sin and held them tenderly to his heart. Finally, they were saved! The moment of Jesus’ resurrection is also the moment of our resurrection.
Easter – A Celebration of Tenderness
We are here to celebrate Easter! This is a celebration of the tenderness of God. You have heard the phrase, “We are an Easter people!” or “We are an Alleluia people!” I think to this we add, “We are a people of Easter tenderness!”
Before I reflect on this, it is good for us go back to that very first Easter. Even though the resurrection was a victory of good over evil, light over darkness, life over death, it was never exhibited as triumphalism. Jesus did not go about a victory march, parade himself through the Temple, or exhibit his invincibility along the corridors of power. Rather, quietly, gently, humbly, and tenderly, he appeared to his followers. He comforted them in their grief, addressed their fears, assured them of his presence, and said, “Peace be with you!”
Easter is celebration of God’s tenderness. That makes us a people of tenderness. We can choose to be triumphalist. But that is not the call of the Gospel. The call of the gospel is to be the tenderness of God. As in the time of Jesus, there is plenty of cruelty, brutality, inhumanity, and triumphalism to go around. But that’s not us. We are not a people of triumphalism. We are a people of tenderness. We tread gently on the earth. We live tenderly in the world. We live love, we show humility, we speak peace. Like the risen Lord, in humility and in tenderness, we live life comforting others in their grief, wiping their tears, assuring them of Christ’s presence, and being channels of peace.
The answer to theodicy’s questions lies on the cross and in the empty tomb. God redeemed humanity through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We too have been raised to new life through the tenderness of God. Now we become the channels of God’s tenderness. Human suffering is real. And the answer to much of human suffering lies in Easter tenderness.
- Fr. Satish Joseph