On My Mind:

The Real Power of the Resurrection

Of all the services of the church year, my hands-down favorite is Maundy Thursday. The altar is bare, the liturgy is spare, and we sit together, watching the light fade as we recall how Jesus suffered and died. Maundy Thursday is the darkness that prepares my soul for the glory of Easter. Without the crucifixion, the resurrection loses its power to astonish.

Many Christians focus attention on the death of Jesus, but lately, I’ve been thinking about his suffering. I credit this change of focus to a beautiful passage in the 2014 book Ordinary Grace (by William Krueger). The Rev. Drum, a Methodist minister whose missing daughter has been found dead, preaches a sermon in the immediate wake of his family’s tragedy. He stands in the pulpit, mastering his emotions, and speaks about the darkest moment in the Gospels. It isn’t the death of Jesus, for in death, Christ gives himself over to the divine will. No, the worst moment is when Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matt 27:46) This is the soul-wrenching cry of one who has lost the very thing they loved most.

Rev. Drum looks out at his congregation and says, “Alive, Jesus, like us, saw with mortal eyes, felt the pain of mortal flesh, and knew the confusion of imperfect mortal understanding. What then do we have left when the thing we love most has been taken?” (p. 194) Then he quotes 1 Corinthians 13: Faith, hope and love; these three are eternal. But the greatest of these is love.

He goes on, explaining that God has given humankind control over these three things, which are the building blocks of eternity. In the face of tragedy and loss, if we can hold fast to faith, hope and especially love, we will not be defeated. Rev. Drum ends with these words: “The miracle is not that the bad thing will be undone, but that you will rise in the morning and be able to see again the startling beauty of the day.” (p. 195)

This side of heaven, we cannot grasp the full power of the resurrection. But we do know our share of sorrow and suffering, and there are times when tragedy drives us to our knees, like it did on February 13, 2023. “My God, my God, why have you abandoned us?” The darkness is so deep and so overpowering that we feel forsaken, isolated, and alone.

Yet there is no limit to the power of faith, hope and love. We’ve experienced this first hand and seen evidence of it all around us in the last six weeks. It is a miracle…and the power of the resurrection in this life.

Easter is coming and the sun will rise. Whatever darkness we have endured, whatever grief or tragedy we are experiencing, it is not the last word on us. And we are not alone. Jesus, the one who knows the depths of mortal suffering, is with us and leads us forward so we can see the startling beauty of the day.

Blessed Easter to you all.
-Rev. Dr. Shawnthea Monroe