RECTOR'S LETTER - Eastertide
Good People,
In the swirl and joy of the celebration it is easy to overlook the different ways the Gospels tell the Resurrection story. As the centerpiece of Christian faith and life, the particular story is not important it is THE story. As a way of capturing some of the differences note the following: Mark's Gospel doesn't care about any scene apart from an empty tomb. It is almost as if Mark is saying that the empty tomb is sufficient and nothing more be said. The mystery remains cloaked as does a lot of what Mark records in this Gospel. The response of the faithful is to "fly without a safety net" of particulars and to trust that God will be working out our future in ways seen and unseen.
The Gospel of Luke has a different spirituality. Luke has a more communal approach. This Gospel has the women reporting in to the tomb for anointing, seeing the angel hearing the announcement and running to tell the Apostles who also report to the tomb in amazement. Jesus then appears to two other disciples on the Emmaus road and after scripture and Eucharist is gone. Nothing more be said here, it's about discovering Resurrection in the community of scripture and Communion.
Matthew's Gospel has a different slant. After the women and the angel and the tomb, the disciples go 'home' to Galilee where they meet Jesus on the mountain. Mountains are critical to Matthew: Moses gives the Ten Commandments there and Jesus has the Sermon on the Mount and foreshadowing of his person on the Mount of Transfiguration. From a mountain Jesus is taken away. Forty days have elapsed while the Gospels of Luke and John have either a fortnight or a day. Mark has none of this. Matthew sees Jesus as a teacher and this Gospel suggests that we find our Resurrection in living the teachings like a Confucian or a faithful Hebrew.
John is more prolific and the latest written of the records. Here the Holy Spirit becomes the reservoir of the Resurrection for the faithful and after giving the Holy Spirit to the disciples Jesus reconciles with Peter and even Judas before he disappears, leaving the Holy Spirit as the ongoing Christ presence. The role of finding our Resurrection is in the community and in the ways the community lives reconciliation within and without itself.
In all the Gospels it is the women who discover the empty tomb and the risen Christ and Mary Magdalene is the only woman who shows up in all four Gospels. In each of the Gospels there is a different but not mutually exclusive spirituality directed at the faithful, suggesting to us that there is a road map to discovering the Resurrection as a process and Way of living rather than a once-a-year event. And it is important to note that there are four pathways here, not one...as one wag said," How Episcopalian- nobody telling you what you must believe."
We will continue to celebrate the season of Eastertide because it is for a lifetime that the Resurrection is a gift to us, and indeed and invitation to be constantly renewed by the grace of God and the presence of Christ.
May you see many Blessings, Richard+
A special thanks to the altar guild, the choir and the myriad ministers of the Eucharist, as well as the Fellowship Commission, the sacristan, Evelyn Lombardi and all who made this holiday truly lovely, spiritual and grand!
