Death and Resurrection

Easter celebrations are done for another year! And what fun they are for the kids with the Easter Egg hunts! And what meaning they have for us adults who follow Jesus! He was not afraid, only for a few minutes in the Garden of Gethsemane, of the death He was facing. He went willing up to Judas who identified Him to the crowd he came with, and they arrested Jesus. And the next day, He died a horrible death on the cross. In agony and total surrender to His death, He prayed to His Father, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Death is the end, we think. But the one thing that Jesus’s death tells us is that death is not the end; it is merely the beginning of new life. For three days after Jesus died that horrible death, His body no longer lay in the tomb. The women who brought the spices for His body, Mary Magdalene and the disciples who came to the cave where He was buried could see with their own eyes the unbelievable sight of just the linens which had covered His body discarded in the cave.

That same day Jesus appeared to the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus. At first, they were kept from recognizing Him, but as He stayed with them, ate a meal with them, He opened their eyes and they recognized Him at last. Death and new life. I think so much in metaphors, and what I make of His death and resurrection is this: that in every small death and challenge in our lives and even in the death of someone close to us, there is new life awaiting us as soon as we recognize the value to us in what has just happened. God is with us in everything, in every single thing that happens to us. And, I believe that the challenges/deaths we go through of our dreams and agendas and loved ones bring us new life when we are willing to embrace the lesson engrained in what has happened to.

I certainly experienced that when my husband’s lymphoma returned with a vengeance. He was back in the hospital just three months after being declared cancer free! By the afternoons that week all I wanted to do was go to bed, pull the covers over my head, and forget what was happening to him and to me. At this time, the Lord said to me, “If you can just hold all possible outcomes equally, well then…” As soon as I was able to do this, a few days later I was given a gift of faith that felt like I was standing on the rock that Jesus talked about (Matthew  7:24-27).  From then on until his death two months later, I was held and supported, and I was able to support him and our adult kids and our friends through this passage. I grieved his death, that he was no longer in my life, but I never was angry at God for taking him at age 60. Over the next few years I was given a whole new life. I finished my spiritual direction training, I had a spiritual direction practice and later became a writer viewing life from the lens of a spiritual director: how do I, who do we, live this life in Christ?

Death and resurrection! Expect that with each small and large death that we experience, we will learn something from that death that is to be incorporated into our lives as we continue our lives. We will experience a new sense of purpose and an ability to live in the fruit of the Spirit more and more with each change. It’s all awaiting us, giving us new life and vitality, new purpose and fulfillment, each time we get stopped in our tracks.

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Questions to ponder over the week: Have I ever experienced a challenge in my life or the death of some plans as a positive for me? Have I had that feeling of resurrection? If not, what do I do with all the challenges that come to me? Resent them? Ignore them? Or accept them? And look forward to what the change will mean to me?

Blessing for the week: May we be the people of God who accept all that comes in our lives, looking for the lessons for us, and adapting to the new reality. May we glory in the new life given to us.

Check out my two websites: patsaidadams.com and deepeningyourfaith.com.

Two Announcements

1. I am giving away a 10-week journaling guide to Jesus’s Two Great Commandments. If you are interested, email me at patsadams@gmail.com and I will email it to you, free of charge.
2. My latest books, “Called to Help the Poor and Needy” and “A Study Guide to the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount” are now in bookstores and on line. The first is about the more than 2,000 verses in the Bible which detail God’s instructions for caring for those in need. The second is a journaling/pondering guide to Jesus’s most complete sermon.