Easter Ahead

We saw a rainbow this morning, not in the sky, but on the trail, we take for our morning walk. The caption said, "Better Times R Ahead," pointing to the future.  We needed that after loading up on the news. The rainbow on the trail reminded me of a camera shot from the movie, Distant Thunder, by late Satyajit Ray. It is a movie about the great famine of 1943 in Bengal, India, a cataclysmic tragedy that wiped out over 3 million people. Arial shots of the scene panning over miles and miles villages laid in ruins with skeletons of humans and animals strewn on dusty grounds and parched fields showed the extent of devastation and human suffering. Finally, the camera found something resembling life. It zoomed in on a  little flower on a tiny plant grew out of the crack in a parched rice field, showing the inexorability of life.  Easter is inevitable.

As we live through this uncertain time, I am more and more drawn to the story of Jesus' first appearance to his disciples after the resurrection. Fearing authorities, the disciples, like fugitives, isolate themselves in a house behind locked doors. One could imagine their dread as Jesus enters their space and greets them, "Peace be with you."  Jesus eases their fears by showing his identity, the bodily wounds of his suffering, and as they begin to rejoice, he appoints them to their mission by breathing into them. Just as the breath of God brought life to the man formed of dust in the beginning, Jesus breathes into these few good-as-dead men for the work of God. Overcoming the deathly experience of Good Friday, Jesus pours into his disciples a new wind, the Ruah, the Spirit of God of Easter.

This period of desolation is unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetime.  What we are going through now is our collective exile. It may be the first time we have ever come face to face with our vulnerability. It may be the first time we have felt that we cannot bluff our way out of it. Our previously held notions that we are in charge or control of our destiny, or we are invincible, or that we are exceptional, or that we have the best system of governance, are all now so exposed, questioned, and challenged.  Collectively and individually, it is our moment of truth. Brought to our knees in this time of our desolation, let God breathe into us His Ruah and help us live again and thrive in the better days ahead of us.