I celebrated Easter at Marsh Chapel this morning, beginning bright and early with an Easter Sunrise service followed by much preparation, two more services, and an Easter Egg hunt. After all of the joy and excitement of this morning, I can’t help but stop to ponder one line in today’s sermon. While I can’t remember the exact words, it went something like this: “Death makes us mortal, but facing death makes us human.” This line was said during a meditation of how we as humans respond to death.
For all of the joy, the celebration, and the message that Easter brings us, this line of the sermon reminded me that there are two parts to Easter. There is the cross and the stone rolled away from the tomb, the death and the resurrection. Easter tends to focus on the second part, and rightly so. There is much to wonder and rejoice at the mystery of someone dying and rising from the grave three days later. Whether one believes in the Gospel story or not, the scripture reading describes something miraculous, something that gives Christians hope. Hope for rebirth after loss, for joy after sorrow.
And yet that story still does not take away the prominence that death plays in our lives. Even though Easter comes every year, death is a reality that moves as time does: ever forward. While the resurrection gives us hope, it seems like half an answer to the question of how does one moves on after.
Although Christ rose from the tomb three days after being laid there, this message of Easter doesn’t really answer that question. Perhaps it’s not meant to. Perhaps the belief that he did it alone should be enough. I can’t help but wonder, though, what that message means to someone who has just recently lost a loved one. Does it offer peace, consolation, hope? Does it help someone who is mourning or grieving heal, or move forward? What does Easter mean for our own mortality? What does the story of the resurrection mean for our willingness to face death, which makes us human? I will admit these questions may not be appropriate for Easter, but I feel compelled to ask them all the same. Sometimes, the story of the resurrection leaves me with more questions than answers, some confusion along with the joy. For now, it is enough for me to celebrate and rejoice in the coming of Easter. But these questions still linger, and it may take more than the story of Easter alone to answer them.