Submitted by Jan on Tue, 22/03/2016 – 10:23
Easter/ Resurrection of the Lord
Year C (2015-2016)
Bible Book: Luke
Chapter: 24
Verse: 1 – 12
The focus text for this week captures what is arguably one of the key tenets of the Christian faith.
It is also the reason for this Lenten season.
The women who have witnessed this miracle return to town with a message of hope: Jesus is risen!
The man so cruelly – and they might also add needlessly – crucified a few days beforehand, has defied the grave.
He is risen!
“But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense,” records John (v.11).
In those few words, we are introduced to the unusual position of women in ancient Israel – despised by most accounts – coming with what must be the breaking news item of their day.
Alongside this arresting development, we are also introduced to the more likely masculine reaction of their – and possibly our – time as well: Nonsense!
As in ancient Israel, Jesus is still in the business of breathing life into dead, broken lives and communities in this complex world.
Amidst the din of depressing headlines around us, there is that most unlikely story, told to us by the most unlikely of people, of a glimmer of hope for tomorrow.
The story of a safe house for those fleeing gender-based violence, or those breaking legal, policy and administrative barriers that complicate lives for those either infected or affected by HIV and AIDS.
The story of communities drawn together by a scourge they previously dismissed as a metaphysical accident, or Churches grounding their social concerns on HIV and AIDS around the blessed hope of a resurrected Jesus.
For some of us – like the disciples of old – this may only be summed up in one word: Nonsense!
Nothing we see, or hear, fits into our established ways of understanding people, issues and events.
God is moving in history, as He has always done, but we perceive it not.
To think about: In what ways do our re-arranged prejudice prevail when it comes to people either infected or affected by HIV and AIDS?
Written by: Jesse Masai is a member of St. Paul’s University Community Chapel in Limuru, Kenya, and the Reformed Church of East Africa in Kenya’s North Region. He is a development communication specialist.
Author: Masai J (Mr)
Language: English