Jesus is our
guarantee of God's promise. What happened in his body is the pattern of
what must happen in all of the cosmos. We are making up in time, in our
body, what happened in thirty-three years in the body of Jesus. We are
optimistic because we look at him to see the final pattern.
To be a Christian
means to be an optimist because we know what happened on the third day. We
know that it worked, that Jesus' leap of faith was not in vain. His trust
was not in vain, and the Father raised him up. He trusted enough to
outstare the darkness, to outstare the void, to wait upon the resurrection of
the third day, not to try to create his own but to wait uon the resurrection of
God. The Scriptures and early Church seldom said Jesus "rose" from the
dead. They always said, "God raised him up!"
Good Friday
inevitably comes into every life. So does Holy Saturday. In those
moments of absurdity and darkness we want to say it's unreal, but Easter Sunday
will come. It is as certain as the dawn. No longer is it an act of
faith to believe in immortality, no longer is it an act of faith that some
theologian must prove to me, because I have seen the pattern worked out again
and again. The Paschal Mystery, the death that is embraced with love, does
not lead to death but to life. Absurdity which is embraced and forgiven
will not lead to meaninglessness but to freedom.
So what was Jesus'
plan to overcome evil? Attack it? No! Love it to death.
What is given to God is always returned transformed. That is the eternal
third day that we forever await.
Richard
Rohr
from The Great
Themes of Scripture
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