An Easter Story

Meanwhile, in a UU congregation in Canada, the Minister had gathered the kids up front to tell them the Easter story. When she got to the part where they rolled back the stone and Jesus’ body was missing, she said:

“Nobody knows for sure why he wasn’t there. Some people believe there was a miracle, and Jesus was brought back from the dead. Other people believe that people who cared deeply about Jesus had already come and taken his body and buried it with loving hands far away from that cave. Still others believe that the whole story of Jesus is in itself not a true story in a literal way, but a myth—which means a story we use to talk to each other about big ideas. As Unitarian Universalists, we don’t all think of this story in the same way, but—“

“Well,” said one of the kids, “Why don’t we just google it?”

There’s more than one kind of resurrection, I think.

When I’m down… when I’ve failed epically… I imagine those disciples on the day after Jesus died. They fought, they loved, they gave things up… They gave it their all, and it ended in tragedy and gruesome death.

If you imagine being one of those disciples, you can imagine how very definitively they knew in their bones: This is the end of our story.

They had no way of knowing that thousands of years later, people all over the world would think of that part as the beginning. That it was this very “failure” that led to the continuing on in ways that nobody could have imagined.  

I have no idea what parts—if any—of the story are literally true. I am pretty sure googling wouldn’t help, either. I know that I don’t think about it as a story of literal resurrection, though.

Resurrection, to me, is taking this moment of having failed or been hurt so incredibly much and saying to yourself “this isn’t the end of the story. This is chapter three. There are more fights to come. A bigger picture and a bigger struggle, and when I tell THAT story, this part will be only a tiny piece at the beginning.”

I’m not trying to tell you that you have to dust yourself off and get back in the ring. Maybe the larger story is about walking away from the ring. Or changing the ring. Or maybe the particular story you’re in the middle of isn’t a resurrection story—some things just suck and you are not obligated to always look for a bigger meaning.

But sometimes, that helps. Sometimes, it can be a comfort. And in this world, I’ll take comfort wherever I can get it. For me, the story of the resurrection is a reminder that the story is bigger that the part we can see right now.

For me, the story of the resurrection is a reminder of the power we have—if and when we are ready—to say “This isn’t the end. Let’s find out what happens next.”