| Already I'm finding Alison's work to be a bit more intense - but some wonderful pieces with which to wrestle. There is a first step to this recasting of God through the resurrection of the crucified Jesus, and this is the demonstration that death itself is a matter of indifference to God. Jesus has already taught exactly this in his answer to the Sadducees in Mark 12:18-27, a teaching which must have seemed mysterious at the time because it showed that in Jesus' perception of God, as opposed to that of his interlocutors, there was already, before the Jesus' death, a clear awareness that an understanding structured by death cannot begin to speak adequately about God. The content of the teaching was made available when Jesus himself was raised, and it became possible to see that God's love for this man was such that that love was unaffected by death, and that for that love death was no necessary separation, for love could carry on being reciprocated even through death. For God, death is as if it were not, which is why Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob live in God. From what Alison seems to be saying, we are beginning to take a look at the real meaning of eternity. Death is a matter of indifference to God. We are beloved from beginning through what we would call end because the 'end' - death - does not bring the love of God to an end. In the resurrection of Jesus, we are given that view of life that carries on through the power of death. In terms of everyday life, I suspect, we are also being reminded that death's power is not able to have the last word among us - because it is not and never will be the last word. Therefore, the resurrection is the power to shape a life among us that is not ruled by fear and death - the same fear and death that lead us to live lives in ways that are contrary to the love of God from the beginning of time. So, maybe original sin -separation from God and one another - is not the ruling power over us. God's inseparable love is. Connection: We are left with life - not fear. We are offered freedom - not slavery. We are beloved - and not under the threat of being left out. Lord of the Resurrection, within the power of your life, we again come to this day. Continue to shape us within the light of new life that you hold before us as a gift. Amen. |
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