Eleven Resurrection Appearances

I came across this list of the eleven resurrection appearances recounted in the Bible. I thought it would be a good meditation for us this Easter Sunday.

To Mary of Magdalene

(Mark 16:9-11; John 20:10-18)
To the other women at the tomb

(Matthew 28:8-10)
To Peter in Jerusalem

(Luke 24:34)
To the two travelers on the road

(Mark 16:12,13)
To eleven disciples behind closed doors

(Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25)
To all the disciples (with Thomas and excluding Judas Iscariot)

(John 20:26-31; 1 Corinthians 15:5)
To seven disciples while fishing

(John 21:1-4)
To eleven disciples on the mountain

(Matthew 28:16-20)
To a crowd of 500

(1 Corinthians 15:6)
To His brother James

(1 Corinthians 15:7)
To those who watched Jesus ascend into Heaven

(Luke 24:44-51; Acts 1:3-8)

1 Corinthians 15:13-17

ParaphrasedIf there isn't resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. If Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can’t be true if there isn't a resurrection of the dead. . And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins.

Icons: So the Servant of God

While I was waiting for Matt to get through surgery, recovery, and to a room Thursday, I had LOTS of time to read (about 5 hours!) I found a quiet spot and rotated through the books I had brought with me: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (awesome, awesome book), Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell, and Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art by Madeleine L’Engle. I got lots of good reading done! Walking on Water had a very interesting chapter titled ”Icons of the True” that I really enjoyed. Here’s a rather long excerpt about icons that I’ve found myself pondering over since I’ve read it…especially the quote by Francis of Assisi:

It is impossible for an artist to attempt a graphic reproduction of Jesus in any way that is meant to be literal. I sympathize with the Hassidic teaching that it is wrong to try in any way to make pictures of God or his prophets. The Muslims have this philosophy, too, hence the intricate, nonrepresentational designs on the mosques.

But in a way both miss the point which the Eastern Orthodox artists are taught when they study the painting of icons. The figure on the icon is not meant to represent literally what Peter or John or any of the apostles looked like, nor what Mary looked like, or the child, Jesus. But, the orthodox painter feels, Jesus of Nazareth did not walk around Galilee faceless. The icon of Jesus may not look like the man Jesus two thousand years ago, but it represents some quality of Jesus, or his mother, or his followers, and so becomes an open window through which we can be given a new glimpse of the love of God. Icons are painted with firm discipline, much prayer, and anonymity. In this way the iconographer is enabled to get out of the way, to listen, to serve the work.

An icon is a symbol, rather than a sign. A sign may point the way to something, such as: Athens – 10 Kilometers. But the sign is not Athens, even when we reach the city limits and read Athens. A symbol, however, unlike a sign, contains within it some quality of what it represents. An icon of the Annunciation, for instance, does more than point to the angel and the girl; it contains, for us, some of Mary’s acceptance and obedience, and so affects our own ability to accept, to obey.

Francis of Assisi says that “In pictures of God and the blessed Virgin painted on wood, God and the blessed Virgin are held in mind, yet the wood and the painting ascribe nothing to themselves, because they are just wood and paint; so the servant of God is a kind of painting, that is, a creature of God in which God is honored for the sake of his benefits. But he ought to ascribe nothing to himself, just like the wood or the painting, but should render honor and glory to God alone.”

(From Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle)

I loved “so the servant of God is a kind of painting, that is, a creature of God in which God is honored for the sake of his benefits.” Instead of wood and paint, I am flesh and blood, which God uses as a canvas to show His glory so I and others can see and know Him better.

I can ascribe nothing to myself – talents, blessings, gifts – they are all of God used to reveal more of Himself both to me and through me. Even my sufferings and trials, these are just more paint layered on my life that I might know my God more and more and be able to reflect Him maybe just a little more clearly to others.

Finding Cosmos in Chaos

One of my most favorite authors is Madeleine L’Engle and I picked up a book by her at the used bookstore in Greensboro Saturday called Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. Here’s a short excerpt I read this morning that made me think about the definition of Christian art….Madeleine’s idea of finding cosmos in chaos made me think about not only art, but life in general. In the chaos of my life, if I pause and try to hear what God is saying to me, I can sometimes see the cosmos (beauty, His plan) in it. May the ears of our ears awake and the eyes of our eyes open to the wonder of God’s love for us today.

Leonard Bernstein tells me more than the dictionary when he says that for him music is cosmos in chaos. That has the ring of truth in my ears, and sparks my creative imagination. And it is true not only of music; all art is cosmos, cosmos found within chaos. At least all Christian art (by which I mean all true art, and I’ll go deeper into this later) is cosmos in chaos. There’s some modern art, in all disciplines, which is not; some artists look at the world around them and see chaos, and instead of discovering cosmos, they reproduce chaos, on canvas, in music, in words. As far as I can see, the reproduction of chaos is neither art, nor is it Christian.

e.e. cummings lauds the beauty of cosmos as he sings,

I who have died am alive again today,
And this is the sun’s birthday, this is the birth
Day of life and love and wings; and of the gay
Great happening illimitably earth

Now the ears of my ears are awake and
Now the eyes of my eyes are opened

And the psalmist sings, “O taste and see how gracious the Lord is: blessed is the man who trusteth in him” and “The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth his handiwork…”

Christ the Lamb

Christ is often symbolized as a lamb in Christian thought ad literature. The symbol derives from the Old Testament sacrificial system, in which lambs were slaughtered as a sacrifice for sin. Jesus became the Lamb of God who was offered as a sacrifice to take away the sin of all the world (John 1:36).

The story is told of a traveler who looked for unusual things in the cities he visited. During a tour of a town one day, he was attracted by a remarkable spire over a public building. Turning to see it better, he noticed, about two-thirds of the way up, a stone figure of a lamb on the wall.

The man stopped a passerby, to ask if there was some significance to the lamb’s stone replica. Told that it marked the place from which a workman lost his balance and fell while the building was under construction, the traveler inquired, “Was he killed?”

“No,” said the local resident, “it was a miracle. When his friends hurried down, expecting to find the mangled body on the pavement, there he was, shaken and badly bruised, but with hardly a bone broken. It happened that several lambs were on their way to slaughter, and as the mason fell, he landed on the back of one of them. The lamb was killed, of course, but his soft body broke the mason’s fall and saved his life. The builder was so impressed with the miracle that he had the stone lamb placed there, as a lasting tribute.

By Robert E. Coleman as told in The Book of Jesus

Joy and Sorrow

Today is the day we remember Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowd shouting “Hosanna!” But it also the time to remember that this same crowd later shouted “Crucify him!” It would be easier for us to just fast forward through this week during which we traditionally remember Christ’s passion and crucifixion to the next Sunday, Easter, when we celebrate His joyful resurrection.

But to leap to Christ’s resurrection would cause us to skip over His pain and sorrow. And remembering those things help us to truly understand and appreciate the joy He has brought to us.

Joy and Sorrow
by Kahlil Gibran

Then a woman said, 'Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.'
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, 'Joy is greater than sorrow,' and others say, 'Nay, sorrow is the greater.'
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.


Matthew 21:1-9
1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
4This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5"Say to the Daughter of Zion,

'See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "

6The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

"Hosanna to the Son of David!"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Hosanna in the highest!"

Matthew 27:20-26
20But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

21"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.

22"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!"

23"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

24When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"

25All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

26Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Darkness That Can Be Felt

One of the daily readings from the Book of Common Prayer’s Lectionary today was Exodus 10:21 – 11:8. (I have a feed on my personal blog that gives the daily scripture readings if anyone is interested.) It’s the story of the second-to-last plague on Egypt – the plague of darkness.

I have mulled over the first two verses today as I was driving home….darkness that can be felt…

Exodus 10:21-23
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt." So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

There have been times that I have been immersed in darkness that was so thick and deep and scary that it seemed like it had a texture and taste of its own…that it filled every nook and cranny in my heart and mind….that it filled the very air I breathed. I sucked it inside myself with each breath I took. It has been at those times that I have known despair. Despair is defined as “the feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will turn out well.”

As Christians, we know that there is indeed something wrong in this world that we live. There is sin, there is a prince of this world that, though defeated, is still waging battles that cause us deep, deep injury. Arrows get shot our way. So – the first part of the definition, the feeling that everything is wrong, is not all that unreasonable to me. The more I live, the more I see that things are not as they should be.

But the second part of the definition, and nothing will turn out well, is where I stray into sin. When I believe that nothing will turn out well, then I am failing to trust in God, to believe that He means good for me. I believe that He is not good, or at least He is not good for me. Maybe He is good for others, but not me. Or maybe He has meant good for me at other times, but surely He has made a mistake this time. Surely there is no way that anything will ever be right again.

More than once, God has proven me wrong in my despair.

And I have had to repent.

The other part of this passage that I kept coming to today was “Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.” The Bible tells me that Christ lives in my heart and that He is the Light of the world. It is only with Him that I can find light when the darkness of despair is upon me. To live with Christ in my heart…that is my prayer.

Journeying

I’m picking my way through a book called The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther De Waal. The first chapter is titled “Journeying.” Here’s a few passages for you today:

If we say yes to Christ’s call to follow him, our Christian discipleship asks of us to follow a man who had nowhere to lay his head. Christ himself is the Way and his followers are people of the Way. Just as he entered the wilderness, like Moses and the children of Israel, and made his own journey through life to death and resurrection and new life, so that pattern is inescapable for us all. And if in the model we see Christ encountering temptation and hardship, we, his followers, should not expect anything less.

Bless to me, O God,
The earth beneath my foot
Bless to me, O God,
The path whereon I go.
Celtic Journey-Prayer

This day I call to me;
God’s strength to direct me,
God’s power to sustain me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s vision to light me,
God’s ear to my hearing,
God’s word to my speaking,
God’s hand to uphold me,
God’s pathway before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s legions to save me:
from snares of the demons,
from evil enticements,
from failings of nature,
from one man or many
that seek to destroy me,
anear or afar.
St. Patrick