{"id":6906,"date":"2022-04-16T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-04-16T00:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6906"},"modified":"2022-04-15T14:45:59","modified_gmt":"2022-04-15T06:45:59","slug":"294-easter-hope-in-the-depth-of-desolation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6906","title":{"rendered":"294. Easter: Hope in the Depth of Desolation"},"content":{"rendered":"

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>but when they went in, they did not find the body.\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men\u00a0said to them, \u201cWhy do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6\u00a0<\/sup>Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup>that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.\u201d\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup>Then they remembered his words,\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup>and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.<\/strong><\/span> [Luke 24:1-9<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[L] The youthful faces of Adam and Eve by\u00a0 on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican; [R] The aged faces of Adam and Eve in the iconography of Adam and Eve Raised from Hell.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the culmination of the Easter Triduum, we found ourselves at the empty tomb. The Vigil took us from creation through Christ\u2019s resurrection, complete with the new fire, bells and all those alleluias. There was vigour in our celebration. But on Easter morning, we feel kind of letdown as the lectionary readings strike a more somber mood and call the whole Church to take a step back and ask: What are the depth messages in all of this that we must as a Church integrate into our mission? The Church has set aside the next fifty days to deal seriously with that process.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Orthodox icon of the Resurrection helps us in that process. The classical Byzantine icon shown above was painted by a sister of the monastery of Vallechiara.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing such an icon for the first time may be a little confusing. At the surface level, the details usually show Jesus descending to the dead, taking Adam and Eve by the hand, surrounded sometimes by prophets and kings of the old covenant. These are puzzling because they seem so very different from the resurrection scenes we read in the Gospels (e.g., Luke\u00a024:1\u20149) or even the accounts that St Paul recalls in\u00a01 Corinthians. Are we not given images of the resurrection as \u201cappearances\u201d and \u201cpersonal encounters\u201d with the risen Christ experienced by a range of living people? But here in the icon, those Gospel accounts of mysterious and elusive encounters are replaced by a portrayal of the Risen Christ holding the hands of Adam and Eve. Now, Christ\u2019s \u201cnoli me tangere<\/em>\u201d instruction to Mary Magdalene: \u201cDo not hold me, for I have not ascended to the Father\u201d (John 20:17) flies in the face of the physical hand-holding in the icon. What happened?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Orthodox tradition, classical icons serve to take viewers to the inner story, to the bedrock of the underlying story. Meditation on the icons thus takes us into another realm and another frame of reference. In The Dwelling of the Light: Praying with Icons of Christ<\/em>, retired Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams helpfully shares with us the reality that he has dived into.<\/span><\/p>\n

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the re-making of creation itself. Viewers see God and Adam and Eve, where it all began. Creation was vested with order and beauty. But things went bad due to human disobedience. Freely forgiving sinful humanity, God recreates through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He made all things new. Now, there is new life in Christ. This is where it begins again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as God \u201cin the beginning\u201d created the universe out of nothing \u2013 darkness and void \u2013 God once again, recreates out of evil and darkness, but this time through the noble and beautiful life of Jesus. So this is not just a happy ending of the story of Jesus of Nazareth; it is the story of the Word of God speaking in the heart of darkness to bring life out of\u00a0the void.<\/span><\/p>\n