Jesus is Dead

Jesus is dead, his body laid in a borrowed tomb. Jesus son of Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth who became for awhile a popular itinerant preacher and healer, is dead.

In Jerusalem, behind locked doors, his former disciples talk in lowered voices, worrying and wondering about what to do, now that their hopes have been defeated.

They remember, and remind each other, of the things that Jesus said during his too-short ministry. They recall the parables through which he taught. The story of the man who had been assaulted by robbers and was succored by a Samaritan – a Samaritan of all people! Yes, and that was after a priest and a Levite had passed him by. Through this story Jesus taught us who we should love as a neighbor. They retell the story of the young man who took his inheritance while his father still lived, and wasted it on riotous living in foreign lands. Yet when he returned home, his father welcomed him. He told this story to teach us how YWHW loves us and wants us to return to him.

Do you remember that he said that those who mourn will be comforted, that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled? We mourn, but who comforts us? We seek righteousness, but there is no righteousness. He said that the merciful will receive mercy, but he was merciful and no one showed him mercy. He said that the poor in spirit, and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, to them belongs the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven! He said it was at hand, that it was actually here. But he was wrong. The Empire of Caesar turned out to be more powerful than the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. The Empire killed him.

Yes, he was wrong about the kingdom of God, and so what use are all those teachings that we thought were so true? We thought he was a wise teacher, but in the end his teachings led to torture and death for him yesterday, and perhaps for us tomorrow. What use are his teachings, now? Who will listen to them, the words of a failed Messiah? When we are gone, will anyone remember his name, much less his words?

In another room, the women disciples gather. They are in despair like the men, but they are women and they have obligations. Tomorrow morning, some of them will go to the tomb to anoint the dead body of their leader and teacher.

By Eric Von Salzen