A happy Easter to all of you! We have journeyed through Lent, and experienced the loneliness and the fear of the Passion, as well as the heart-warming act of Jesus as Servant, washing the feet of his disciples, and then giving us the wonderful gift of the Eucharist. I suppose many of you celebrated the Seder meal, and became part of the first New Testament Seder, picturing Jesus going out into the darkness towards Gethsemane with the beautiful sound of the Hallel psalms ringing in his ears, yet knowing he was betrayed and soon would be captured and disowned. But now we are warming ourselves, not at the brazier of Peter which just took away for a time the cold winds of fear and guilt, but the great sun of the Resurrected world. Alleluia!
May I share with you another Resurrection? I’m sure you have many of your own, which I would love to hear, but I’ve always been captivated by this one. Please send in your own stories of hope after despair. Jesus offers us the fruits of his rising from the dead all the time.
Here is my contribution:
An old man shuffled painfully along the cobbled streets of London. He was stooped, awkward and obviously in pain. His face was pale and there were lines of pain etched deeply on his cheeks. People passed him by, avoiding his eyes which seemed bitter and hard. His name was George Frederic Handel. The great musician of the 18th century. He had suffered a stroke some months before, and doctors held out little hope of his survival. “I am finished!” he said to himself. “I can no longer compose music. I cannot hear those wonderful melodies in my head. Point and counterpoint harmony no longer have any meaning for me. I might as well die!” Despondently he shuffled back to his lodgings.
When he got there he found a thick wad of paper rolled in a parcel standing on the hall table. “Not another MS”, he muttered. “Will they never realise that I am no longer a musician?” Listlessly he picked it up. It was from his friend who had always supported him, so, listlessly he tore open the paper. It was the story of the life of Christ. He read on, without much interest, until he saw this:
“.. the crowds were appalled at seeing him, so disfigured did he look, that he seemed no longer human,… “ “Like a sapling he grew up in front of us, like a root in arid ground. Without beauty, without majesty we saw him no looks to attract our eyes, a thing despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. A man to make people screen their faces. He was despised, and we took no account of him.” Fourth Servant Song: Isaiah 52: 11 – 15.
“Why, that’s me!” he cried, “I am despised and of no account too!” So, fascinated, he read on.
Afterwards he was to say: “I saw the heavens open and I heard the most beautiful music. Words poured into my mind. “He was despised and rejected yet by his wounds we are healed. I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH” he cried exultingly at the four walls of his hallway. ALLELUIA! For ten days he never came out of his room, refusing to eat or drink. But he gave us The Messiah. His greatest work. The most famous oratorio in the world.
London refused to put it on, as they thought he was finished. So he went to Dublin, and they gave us “Oh thou who bringest good tidings to Sion” “He was despised” “I know that my redeemer liveth” and of course the famous Alleluia chorus. And so many more.... Handel lived on for some years after this, and became the most feted musician of the time. Everywhere he went, he brought the portfolio of The Messiah. It was his Resurrection.
What are your experiences of Resurrection? Thank God for them today, and go about humming “Alleluia, alleluia, alle- luia!" Enjoy this wonderful time - the Springtime of the Church and ours too.
God bless.
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