The Garden Tomb is one of the two most popular proposed locations for the burial and resurrection of Jesus. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that time again. \u00a0It\u2019s time to post one of my favorite poems, which is especially well-suited to this season of the year. \u00a0It\u2019s the late poet and novelist John Updike\u2019s \u201cSeven Stanzas at Easter.\u201d \u00a0Updike (1932-2009) was a two-time winner of the National Book Award and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In order to understand the poem completely, you need to know the noun\u00a0remonstrance<\/em> (re-MON-strance), which denotes \u201ca forcefully reproachful protest\u201d:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Make no mistake: if he rose at all<\/strong><\/span>
\nIt was as His body;<\/strong><\/span>
\nIf the cell\u2019s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe amino acids rekindle,<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Church will fall.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nIt was not as the flowers,<\/strong><\/span>
\nEach soft spring recurrent;<\/strong><\/span>
\nIt was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the<\/strong><\/span>
\nEleven apostles;<\/strong><\/span>
\nIt was as His flesh; ours.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe same hinged thumbs and toes<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe same valved heart<\/strong><\/span>
\nThat\u2014pierced\u2014died, withered, paused, and then regathered<\/strong><\/span>
\nOut of enduring Might<\/strong><\/span>
\nNew strength to enclose.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nLet us not mock God with metaphor,<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnalogy, sidestepping, transcendence,<\/strong><\/span>
\nMaking of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded<\/strong><\/span>
\nCredulity of earlier ages:<\/strong><\/span>
\nLet us walk through the door.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,<\/strong><\/span>
\nNot a stone in a story,<\/strong><\/span>
\nBut the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of<\/strong><\/span>
\nTime will eclipse for each of us<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe wide light of day.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nAnd if we have an angel at the tomb,<\/strong><\/span>
\nMake it a real angel,<\/strong><\/span>
\nWeighty with Max Planck\u2019s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe dawn light, robed in real linen<\/strong><\/span>
\nSpun on a definite loom.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nLet us not seek to make it less monstrous,<\/strong><\/span>
\nFor our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,<\/strong><\/span>
\nLest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed<\/strong><\/span>
\nBy the miracle,<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnd crushed by remonstrance.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Updike\u2019s poem, in part, reminds me of a comment from the Prophet Joseph Smith:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0(History of the Church,<\/em>\u00a03:30; from an editorial published on page 44 in the\u00a0Elders\u2019 Journal,<\/em>\u00a0July 1838; Joseph Smith was the editor of the periodical)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from San Diego, California<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 It\u2019s that time again. \u00a0It\u2019s time to post one of my favorite poems, which is especially well-suited to this season of the year. \u00a0It\u2019s the late poet and novelist John Updike\u2019s \u201cSeven Stanzas at Easter.\u201d \u00a0Updike (1932-2009) was a two-time winner of the National Book Award and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1356,870,4735,1363,1369,4054,1366,4732,2815],"class_list":["post-72889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christ","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-easter","tag-jesus","tag-poem","tag-resurrection","tag-seven-stanzas","tag-updike"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"The Garden Tomb\" (Phillip Benshmuel, 2008)](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/02\/The_Garden_Tomb_2008.jpg\")
<\/a>