“The Uprising”
SCRIPTURE
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.” —Luke 24:5
DEVOTIONAL
Often, when we talk about the resurrection, we might think of the flesh and body coming out of the ground like an old Michael Jackson Thriller video. But the word translated as “resurrection” in the New Testament Greek is anastasus – which means “rising up” or an “uprising.” The Romans were always worried about anastasees (uprisings) which is why they sent all of those Roman soldiers to Jerusalem during the time of the festival; they needed to quell those movements.
Franciscan priest Richard Rohr pointed out how the Western Church and the Eastern Church understand the resurrection differently. In the west, we imagine Jesus coming up alone. In the eastern church, they have held onto a tradition that goes back far before the split of the church (1054 CE). We can see this in the medieval paintings of the resurrection. Medieval paintings, like medieval theology, show that when Jesus comes up from the dead, he is not rising alone. He’s reaching back and pulling someone’s arm, he’s bringing people with him. The early church taught that Jesus went to hell to the people who felt despised and abandoned and lost, the people who didn’t believe or were not too pious or successful or made too many mistakes. He wanted to bring them up to be a part of the uprising. Easter is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.
I am not sure which one is harder to believe, that Jesus was raised from the dead or that he brought the outcasts, the criminals, and the sinners with him to follow him to a new world order. He loves people who never prove worthy of that love, forgiving people who don’t deserve it. The resurrection was uprising against isolation through forgiveness.
So, the early Christian accounts of the resurrection don’t say, “Jesus is resurrected so you get to live forever.” The early church says, “Jesus was raised so now there is forgiveness, now there is freedom, now there is life.” The resurrection is an uprising against the brokenness of this world here and now. He has risen. He has risen, indeed!
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- The resurrection tells us that forgiveness is freely offered by God’s grace. For what have you been forgiven? What do you need to forgive?
- The resurrection is an uprising against a Good Friday world. What would it take for you to live as if that is true?
- Lent is over, yet the journey remains. How can you commit to the uprising, the revolution, the new world order?
PRAYER
You, giver of life, are a strange truth to behold. In the midst of a Good Friday world, we hear the news, “He has risen!” We praise you for that manifested hope and beg your calling. Bring us with you out of the tomb of death, isolation, resentment, and fear. Resurrect us to be your disciples no longer wandering but following you as stewards of your uprising. Standing at the empty tomb – hearing our names – recipients of a gift stronger than death – we pray all of this with gratitude and joy in the name of the Resurrected One, Christ, our Lord, our Life, Amen.
“Prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” —Karl Barth
The daily devotionals for the season of Lent are written by Rev. Dr. Kirk Hall, Associate Pastor of Formation at First Presbyterian Church from 2010-2013. He is currently a founding partner at The Metis Project, LLC. and lives with his wife and two girls in Salisbury, Connecticut.
Follow Kirk Hall on Substack: https://kirkhall.substack.com