"WHO WILL ROLL AWAY THE STONE?"

 “WHO WILL ROLL AWAY THE STONE?”

In the Gospel of Mark, the account of the Resurrection appears in chapter 16.  It is a powerful rendering of the events that shook and transformed the Jewish group who followed Jesus of Nazareth.  There are many aspects to the story that are intriguing, including the fact that the earliest manuscripts of Mark end on a preposition.  There have been many theories posited about the meaning of such an abrupt ending to Mark’s gospel.  

Intriguing to me in this season in 2022 is an earlier phrase in that same story.  As the women go to the tomb of Jesus to anoint his body for a proper burial, one of their main concerns is that there is big boulder blocking the entry to the tomb, placed there so that potential graverobbers will be less likely to break in and steal any valuables left behind with the body – after all, Jesus is buried in the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea.  The women express their concern in a poignant phrase: “Who will roll away the stone for us?”  According to Mark, their fears are allayed when they arrive at the tomb, and the stone has already been rolled away. As they go into the tomb, full of fear, they hear from a live young man in the tomb that Jesus is no longer there but will meet them soon.

That question “Who will roll away the stone for us?” is a metaphor for all of us wandering through life, living under the power of death.  Especially in these times, the power of death seems especially close, not just because I am aging but also because the country and the world seem so fragile right now, because the powers of death seem so overwhelming and strong right now.  From the prison/industrial complex to the Russian war in Ukraine to the White South Rising, there seems to be no end to the power of death.  Many of us are struggling, like those women disciples of Jesus did, wondering “Who will roll away the stone?”

We had a fine visit over the weekend in Athens with our longtime friends John and Dee Cole Vodicka.  They had invited us up to hear a presentation by Pulitzer Prize winning poet and essayist Natasha Trethewey at UGA, and it was excellent – more on that in another blog.  While we were there, we heard of Dee and John’s efforts, through their Sunday school class at Oconee Street Methodist Church, to roll away one of the stones.  They are looking at ways of making some reparations in relation to racism and economic oppression, and they are working with the Linnentown Project in Athens.  

In 1962, with the support of the city of Athens and US Senator Richard B. Russell, he University of Georgia used a federal “urban renewal” grant (now known as “urban removal”) to demolish a Black community known as Linnentown – it was called “slum clearance” then.  As happened all over the country, Black communities were destroyed through “eminent domain,” and seized the wealth-building assets to construct UGA dormitories Brumby, Russell, and Creswell Hall.  

Over the last few years, people have begun to work on rolling away that stone of oppression and injustice in what became known as The Linnentown Project.  In February, 2021, after much research and lobbying, the unified government of Athens-Clark County unanimously adopted the “Linnentown Resolution for Recognition and Redress.” All worked closely with former Linnentown residents to draft and pass the resolution.  It is the first official call for reparations in Georgia.  And, now onto the thorny but necessary of redress and reparations.  Direct descendants of former Linnentown residents are being identified and approached about redress and reparations, and this is an ongoing project.  If you’d like to read more about this effort, here is the link to one of the sites:   https://www.redressforlinnentown.com/removal

“Who will roll away the stone?”  That is the question for all of us in our time, and in all times.  I am grateful to those involved in the Linnentown Project, including our friends, Dee and John, as they seek to find their way to rolling away the stone of white supremacy in their midst, a rolling away that includes reparations.  As I have said before in this space, those of us classified as “white,” must be about the business of rolling away the stone of white supremacy, and these are the necessary steps for use to be on that journey:  recognition, repentance, resistance, resilience, reparation, reconciliation, and recovery.  We give thanks for folks at the Linnentown Project who are showing us the way, and we are all asked to be on the journey also.