New life always follows death

 Easter. A time for renewal, a time to look forward with hope. The flame of hope and love has been lit once more to carry us into a new beginning. We have been there before we have seen it all and we have gone through it more than once but each year we return with new hope vibrant in the air as we greet the risen Christ. Yet, we must turn the clock back and remember that hope began in despair and betrayal. We must turn back and remember that in death and darkness the new beginning was initiated and consummated. It is fitting that this year we are reminded of the extraordinary role that women played in the resurrection story.

It is the women who bring the news of the empty tomb. It is Mary who first interacts with the risen Christ. In other Gospels it is also the women that have a prominent role to play and who engage in the new life that Christ represents in his risen glory. They express all the hesitancy and unbelief that is present in the men's story but they are still the ones that are prominent in the initial recognition of risenness. Yet also within the distinctiveness of the interaction there are anomalies that need to be addressed. Why is it that Mary is denied the physicality that is present in the interactions with the male disciples? Why is it that in the prominence of the ladies in these stories there role has been lessened over time? The last of course is obvious if we think about the patriarchal systems that inhabit the world particularly in the early years of Christendom. Indeed if we reflect on tis we can see that this matters even in today's world.

The first is perhaps more difficult to assimilate and may have something to do with the male female relationship of the time as mentioned earlier. However, there may be something else here that is worth remembering. Christ is reborn not from the womb but from God in preventing the intimate touch is this what is being signified. New life is seen as springing from the womb of the mother in Christ the mother's womb is bypassed as we move into new life only through death not through the living. In allowing the male touch Christ is indicating to us that we need to become intimate with life reborn following death. Perhaps, this is stretching it and yet there is something here that must needs be explored in more detail. The mother knows life, this is inscribed in the very nature of woman. It is an intimate knowledge and it is an innate  knowledge that comes through experience and pain. It is a knowledge that man cannot attempt to know let alone know innately or as intimately. Such pain is overcome with new life, it is not forgotten but rather sublimated behind the joy and love that is found in new life, but is carried throughout life.

The cross and tomb are empty of life. Love has moved beyond the grave and death.

Mary has already acknowledged the pain of loss of life, she knows that pain often bears life and in recognising the risen Lord Mary's pain is sublimated behind the joy of new life. She already knows this feeling as birth and death are often co-mingled in joy and love at the start of any new life. It is only dull man that needs the verification of touch to inhabit the knowledge that new life comes from death. It is not an innate knowledge of knowing pain and loss often proceed new life and love. In our present day many of us are left behind as we no longer have access to this innate knowledge as all of our needs are catered for by our knowledge and ability. The intimacy that comes with birth and death is no longer a reality in our lives. In losing this we have lost some of the impact that the risenness of Christ brings to those who are captured within the story.

Having suffered with Christ on the cross on Good Friday and passed through the devastation of Saturday we open ourselves this Sunday to the possibility of life that extends beyond the border of the known. A life that brings joy and love into the hearts and minds that witness to death on the cross and find that it only leads to hope and love beyond all expectations...if we allow it to. We can dwell too much on the death; we can dwell too much on the life but what we do not do is dwell on the transition between the two and what it truly means for each of us as we die to that which was and rise into a new hope filled future that Christ calls us to only if we are willing to step beyond our own fears and hesitations.