“RESURRECTION AND RESISTANCE!”
We are in the season of Resurrection. Easter was yesterday, and whether or not you believe that Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead after he was given the death penalty by Rome, the power of Resurrection still speaks to all of us. The power of the Resurrection is not so much what happens to us when we die. The power of the Resurrection is that we are offered the opportunity to experience new life now, to see life and ourselves and others in a new way.
In this sense, Resurrection is always contemporary, because we are always in captivity. Those of us seeking liberation can use the power of Resurrection as a metaphor for helping us to find new life and new vision. In this time when Trump would be king, it is sometimes hard to feel and to experience the power of Resurrection. There is a hopeless malaise hanging over us, like an early morning fog that robs us of our ability to see clearly. Indeed, that is what Trump wants – for us to give up and give in to his move for imperial power.
In this kind of time, let us recall those first followers of Jesus, who felt the power and vision of Resurrection. They lived under the oppressive power of imperial Rome, and they were so unimportant that no Roman historian recorded their names or their actions or their histories. They could have been crushed at any time by Rome – they had very little agency in regard to political power. When the word first began to spread about the Resurrection, Rome did not tremble or even notice – another little sect with some weird theory.
The Empire began to notice these People of the Way when they began to resist the claim of Empire to ultimate authority. The People of the Way began to deny that their hearts belonged to Rome – they belonged to the God they met in the Risen Jesus. This worried Rome, and the executions began. These executions only called forth more resistance.
The Resurrection is a form of resistance, resistance to the power of death. Jesus proclaimed that death is not the final word in life – rather the final word is the power of love and justice and equity in the name of God. In these times when The Army of the Patriarchy is on the march in American culture, we are called to join in resistance against that movement. We are asked to hear God’s call to resistance - a resistance rooted in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Such resistance takes many forms. John Brown heard about the resistance of Jesus and picked up a sword in Kansas and a rifle in New York. Ida B. Wells heard about the resistance and picked up a pen. Barbara Johns heard about the resistance and picked up her shoe and rapped it on the high school podium, as she led a student boycott until Black education was dramatically improved. MLK heard about the resistance and picked up the mantle of nonviolence.
Our resistance can take many forms, but whatever form we choose, it is time to resist. The Trumpster may yet implode, but we cannot count on that. We must be witnesses to a new and different order, a different way of living our lives as People of the Way. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, it is time now to pick up your implement of resistance. This season of the Resurrection demands it – let us be finding our way on the path of Resurrection and Resistance.
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