Easter and Desolation

. . ."as in a dry weary land where there is no water." (Psalm 63:1, ESV)

In the midst of Easter, that is how I find myself--dry, weary, desolate, unproductive, not bearing fruit. Far from being a "tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit," (Jeremiah 17:7-8, ESV) I find myself a "shrub in the desert . . . in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited land." (jeremiah 17:6, ESV)

A wise person once said, "when the water in the hole runs dry, keep digging." And so I do. . . keep digging, that is. Because the hope that Easter brings endures in me, for I know that my Redeemer lives again and that is--or should be--enough for me.

I pray for the grace to realize that, in very personal and real terms: that Christ's resurrection, and the hope of life anew, life eternal, should be enough for me.

MFN

After a brutal 40 days of lent, Easter, for me, is best summed up by Psalm 147:20 -- "He has not dealt thus with any other nation. . ." (ESV)

It speaks of undeserved but nonetheless abundantly given grace to a nation, a People, that deserves far, far less.

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet. . ." (Psalm 8:3-6; ESV)

The Lord who is risen is He who "determines the number of the stars (and) gives to all of them their names" (147:4; ESV)--truly, the King, Creator, Owner of the Universe.

We are God's MFN (Most Favored Nation) and Easter serves to remind us--me--of that. "He has not dealt thus with any other nation." Indeed.

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Thank You Lord for not giving us what we deserve--for dealing with us, unlike any other nation, any other People; thank you for blessing us with everything within YOUR imagination with everything beyond OUR imagination. This Easter, may we live lives that reflect the healing, the restoration, the hope that Your resurrection brings.

Easter (according to John Y.)

Jopeng (a lay missionary brother from The Servants of the Word) and I groaned (simultaneously, albeit separately) when John said that now that it's Easter, it doesn't mean that lent is over--the discipline of lent is still there but it's coupled with the joy of Easter.

Lent. isn't. over. ?! Huh?

Trust someone like John Yocum, an Elder from The Servants of the Word with a Ph.D in Theology and with faculty stints in Oxford and currently at Loyola School of Theology, to put Easter in its proper perspective with his usual really softly spoken erudition. (He did say it with a smile on his face, so we weren't really sure if he was kidding, at first; later, of course, we knew he wasn't kidding.)

But no matter my reaction to John's earlier statement, it was something that was thought-provoking, insightful and life-giving--and it was something that was, ultimately, so simple you start to ask yourself why you never thought of it in the first place.

Just because it is Easter already doesn't mean that we go back to our old wordly ways; that would negate everything about Easter! That, in a very poorly-worded sentence, is what John meant (I think) by lent continuing despite Easter. It wouldn't be Easter if we all went back to our old lives--pre-lent; it wouldn't be Easter if we all started doing everything we were doing before lent came in. Easter is the season of new-ness yet that new-ness would be absolutely meaningless if we went back to our old ways. And that, in John 's exhortation, is precisely why we celebrate Easter because the old man has died and the new man has been born.

So, after collecting my jaw off the floor, I rejoiced!

Happy 2nd day* of Easter!



* John quipped that if we found lent brutal because of its length (bad pun mine, not his)--40 days--then Easter should be much more interesting because it is 10 days longer--there are 50 days of the Easter season before Pentecost; so that means there are 50 days of rejoicing without letting go of the discipline of lent.