We are all bad before Easter. We do what we wish we did not do. We allow greed, lust for power, and hate to consume and kill our souls. We all should have a bad Easter, but nobody need end that way. We all can have a good Easter because this Pascha feast is for everyone. Everyone is invited and we can come even if we denied Jesus right up to the moment He came out the tomb where hate placed Him.
We deserve a bad Easter but good Easter is coming anyway. I look in myself and see how far I fall short of what I think I should do and then realize how easy I am on myself compared to divine standards. And yet the call for forgiveness and healing is for everyone . . . even me.
To the grifter, Jesus says sell all you have and come to this feast. Jesus promises you persecution and pain. The children of this age will seem wiser than you are because they defraud, rob, kill, and destroy. You will be made whole in your soul and this is the best kind of happiness.
To the powerful, Jesus says gives up your schemes of tyranny and come to His feast. Force must be used against evil but none of us are great or good enough to decide on using power by ourselves. We are not fully safe when we put in place checks and balances. Power always corrupts us, but He is the King who had all the power and laid it down for Love. Power cannot corrupt Him because He had it all and was willing to release it for love.
We can do likewise!
To the fearful, Jesus says give up your fear and the hate that causes fear and come to the feast. Fear is lethal. We fear sin and become sinners. We fear sinners and become worse than they are. We fear other people and react in ways that make them fear us. Perfect love is waiting to cast out all fear and He will do it through a party!
To the one hurt by the religious establishment, Jesus says “as was I” and then bids us come to His feast. The church is full of broken people and where there is some money and power that has come, the church grifters, vultures, and parasites have also come. Judas’ spirit is alive and well. You have been hurt and harmed and Jesus stands in solidarity with you against religious abuse.
Let go of bitterness, of hate, of hurt, and find healing and life. This is not to say that you should not pursue justice. Justice is good but while pursuing justice let go of hate. The hate will not harm the evil one but only self. Jesus was hurt and Jesus will bring great justice but He will also have mercy on all who request mercy. If you need mercy, Jesus will bring mercy. If you need justice, Jesus will bring justice in this life and that which is to come.
Jesus understands our doubts and welcomes dialogue. Jesus knows our hatred and is secure enough in Himself to let us rant. Jesus only asks that we come as we are, to become different from what we are. We need only hope for hope and He will meet us. The God-man that death could not defeat weeps for the hurts we have received and the pain we have inflicted, but those hurts and pains cannot defeat Him.
It is true that there is metaphysical aspirin we can take to numb our pain. We can give up on the burdens the religious have placed on us and find great temporary relief, but we carry our own problems with us still. In the dead of the night, we know that the abuse of truth does not make truth less true. We know that the traditional religious of Jesus’ day killed Jesus for being traditionally Jewish in fact as well as in words. He exposed their hypocrisy and the manner they used truth to gain money and power.
Jesus only asks that we hope for belief and are honest about our unbelief. He will engage in the dialectic of love with anyone who is willing to let go of their hate if Love can show a way to do so. He is even willing to help when we discover that hate is clinging to the heart strings so tightly that our ripping it out would kill us. The Creator will reach down and make our hearts new over time, with great pain, but surely.
Jesus is in charge and I can see Him today as I kneel for His feast. Look up from the altar as you bow there and see Him. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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