A Capuchin friend of ours, who forwarded this around in an email.
Living God, the risen Christ is on the move among us, but often we don’t recognize him.
Like Mary Magdalene, we weep by the tomb, interpreting events in their worst possible light, until we hear the risen one call our name.
Like the men walking to Emmaus, we think the bad guys have won, until we see Jesus alive in the breaking of the bread.
Like the disciples on the beach, we go back to our old lives of fishing, while the risen Christ is on the beach making a fire for a breakfast we’re about to catch. Like Saul of Tarsus, we blindly surge forward doing our religious duty – even when it includes religious violence – until an unrecognized voice arrests us on the road, and when we ask, “Who are you, Lord?” we hear the answer: “Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”
So now, where we face disappointment, discouragement, lack of faith or hope, or lack of conscience … we open ourselves this Easter morning to discover that you are already here, unrecognized.
Today, may we once again hear our name, recognize Christ in the breaking of bread, cast our nets again, and know the good news that the Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!”
–Rev. Brian McLaren
The image below is a 15th century Russian Icon, “The Harrowing of Hell”; Jesus “brought salvation to all of the righteous who had died since the beginning of the world”. As in the Creed “He descended into hell”.
Image from Wikipedia user Shakko –
“Har hell Hermitage2” by Shakko – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Har_hell_Hermitage2.jpg#/media/File:Har_hell_Hermitage2.jpg
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