He lived his life intentionally -- always seeking to be connected to God. In everything he did and everything he said, there was always an effort to reveal God’s boundless and unconditional love to the world. In so doing he turned the world upside down. Those in positions of power, both civil and religious, found his message to be threatening, because it undermined the very things which kept them in power -- fear, guilt, privilege, violence. And so, in the end, in an attempt to silence him, they killed him. Or so they thought. It is the hubris of power that leads us always to think we are in control of life. But Life -- Life with a capital “L” -- Life as God desires us to experience it -- this Life is not meant to be controlled, it is meant to be lived -- fully, richly, abundantly. So it really shouldn’t surprise us -- even though it always does -- that the abundant life we see revealed in Jesus couldn’t be stopped and it couldn’t be killed. In fact, it just keeps thriving and growing and spreading. This life force is beyond our ability to adequately describe, but not beyond our ability to experience. We see this revealed in the Gospel accounts of the resurrection. The descriptions are always ambiguous. There is always more to say than they can find words for. So, we find images of empty tombs and angelic messengers. There is talk of Jesus present but unrecognizable, touchable, but just out of reach. He shows up in unexpected places and surprising ways. It is life that cannot be fully described, contained or controlled. It is life that changes us -- transforms us -- renews us. It is life that always points us to life and leads us away from death.

And the more I open myself to this reality -- the more I allow myself to be immersed in this abundant resurrection life -- the more I find myself faced with a problem. It is a problem of language. We are surrounded by language that seems to point us more to death than to life. And it is a problem that is deep and pervasive. The scriptures are filled with efforts to understand who Jesus is and what meaning we can find in his story. And yet, so often down through the centuries the Church has chosen to focus almost exclusively on those images which seem most weighed down with death and the most resistant to life. This tendancy seems to come into sharp, clear contrast particularly in this season. How do we understand the fact of Jesus’ death? What meaning do we find in his crucifixion? In the New Testament, and throughout the history of Christian theology, there are a variety of answers to such questions. But for most people, the first answer that rises to the surface is captured in the anthem the choir just sang. “He died for me!” And unfortunately, if we are not very, very careful, such an understanding can lead us into some really dark and dangerous territory. What are the implications of such thinking? What does it say about God? What does it say about us? I was talking with a friend the other day who said, “I would like to come visit your church sometime. But I am bothered by the symbols.” I asked which symbols she was referring to. “You have a cross hanging on your wall. It seems to represent such violence -- the idea that God had his son killed.” I sighed a heavy sigh of understanding. That need not be where we go, but it is all too easy to arrive at such an understanding when you begin with the thought that Jesus died for us. It is all too easy to end up with an angry God who will not be appeased until someone dies. Theologian and New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan asks the question, “What is the character of the God you believe in?” And the answer is not necessarily clear just because we say that “God is love.” The real answer begins to emerge when we explore the implications of the other things we say we believe. It is important to look at our beliefs and ask, “Where do we find the compassion revealed? Where do we find the love revealed? Where do we find the life revealed?” And if we do not find those things revealed in what we say we believe, do we really want to continue believing them? Do they really help us find the Truth?

For me, I find meaning and purpose in Jesus’ death when I see his willingness to live his life with integrity. His whole life was so God-centered and God-filled that he simply had to share that abundant joy with the world, even when it upset the status quo, even when it put him at odds with the powers-that-be, even when it led them to kill him. He didn’t back down. He didn’t run away. He didn’t respond in kind. He simply continued to live out a life full of love and full of God, right to his very last breath. And with his very last breath -- “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” -- we see revealed the ultimate truth that there is nowhere we can go that we will not find God already there, waiting for us with the gift of life. And such life cannot and will not be silenced. It simply is not possible. It might look dead. It might feel like it has been stopped. But finally God will have the last word -- and the last word is always Life! Such life always calls us to life. It calls us by name and invites us beyond our limitations and beyond our death-filled understandings into renewed and abundant living.

And such Life is about more than just words. It is a call to action. Jesus calls Mary by name and then sends her out to tell the others about this unstoppable life she has encountered. God calls us by name and then sends us out to live our lives fully, deeply, richly, abundantly. It is no small thing that from the earliest days of the Church, one of the central images used to describe us has been “The Body of Christ.” We are the resurrected presence of Christ. If the world is going to see Christ anywhere, it is in our lives where that presence will be revealed, in what we say and in what we do. We can begin with our language -- being intentional about using words and images which convey a sense of the light and life we see revealed in Jesus. But our words are only the beginning. Pay attention to the places where God’s Spirit bubbles up in your life. Discover what excites you and then allow that passion to shape your living. If you care about peace, then work for it. If you care about reforming health care in this country and around the world, then get involved in groups that seek to make those changes. If you care about helping to bring comfort to people’s lives, then visit the sick or write letters to those who are alone. In whatever ways it takes shape for you -- open yourself to God’s Life! Experience the resurrection! Be the resurrection! Share the resurrection! Live!