Called to Rise with Christ!

Sebastian was very creative. He had a wonderful imagination and, for a boy of his age, he also had a great love for reading.

Now as things go, Sebastian's wonderful imagination, great creativity and love for reading also made him the target for the local school bullies. They said he was a sissy and they wondered why on earth he would want to spend his life reading books and dreaming dreams.

Real life, for these bullies, was being macho and lording it over other people. Bravery was dumping on people to prove just how courageous they were or at least how courageous they would have liked to think that they were.

Like most bullies, they weren't brave at all. In fact, they really had no idea what courage was all about. Deep down inside they were scared of finding out who they really were and facing themselves alone.

Sebastian suffered the brunt of their fear. But that wasn't Sebastian's biggest problem. Sebastian's biggest problem was that his mother had just died.
Sebastian had been unable to come to terms with the intense grief which he felt over the death of this person who was so important, so central to his life, and someone whom he loved so very much.

His dad was trying to cope with his own grief and that meant that Sebastian was inevitably on his own in this major crisis in his life. It was hard enough for his dad to work through his feelings over such a loss let alone for him to be able to cope with the trauma which his son was also experiencing.

Sebastian and his dad were both trying to get on with their lives but somehow the reality of Sebastian's mother's death had never quite been dealt with by other of them and they both carried within them intense feelings which had never been let out.
Then one day, when Sebastian was running away from the school bullies, he found himself in an old bookstore. An old man was seated behind a huge pile of old books at a desk in the corner.

Now this bookstore was not a store for new books. It was full of old and antiquarian books. These were not just used books. They were very special used books: books that had significance far beyond the words which were formed on their pages and the time which had been take for each of them to be written. They were very special books indeed.

The old man in the shop was used to young boys not appreciating books especially old ones and at first he was on the defensive.

"Get out of my shop. These are books. They don't go beep and they don't have pictures that move. They're obviously not the sort of thing that you're interested in at all." When Sebastian had caught his breath and begun listing off the books which he had read, the old man concedes that he was wrong and recognises that it is truly an accomplished reader which stands before him.

After learning a little of Sebastian's story, the old man convinces Sebastian that the book which he is reading is really the one that Sebastian should read. But this crafty old man does it in an especially devious way, by using the line that no living person can resist, "This book is not for you."

While the old man is out of the room, Sebastian takes the book, leaving a hastily scribbled note telling the old man not to worry, he will return it. The old man has no intention of worrying. He knows about young boys who love books.

Hiding in the school attic, Sebastian begins to read the book. He becomes involved in the world of Fantasia. This world is in crisis just as Sebastian is going through his own personal crisis. The empress is ill and the Nothing is destroying Fantasia. A young boy is chosen as the one to set out on the quest to prevent the empress from dying and Fantasia from being reduced to nothing.

As Sebastian becomes involved in the story, he lives through all the emotions which have been bottled up inside him since the death of his mother—intense sadness and despair, the sense of failure at being unable to prevent her death, the desire for things to be as they were, and finally the realisation that life and death are all part of the never-ending story of living; that even in the midst of despair there is hope; that endings can also be beginnings, and that what is a part of your life can never really be lost, although you cannot experience it in quite the same way anymore.

The disciples of Jesus were going through their own crisis after Jesus' death. The dreams which they had had, the vision which they had shared, all seemed now to be so empty and hopeless. What would they do without Jesus? Where would they go? Nothing in their lives could ever be the same after the time they had spent with Jesus and now nothing could ever be the same now that he had been taken from them and killed. Worse still, he was killed as a traitor and a blasphemer to their nation and their God, betrayed by a fanatic and condemned by the institution which claimed to uphold God's law. They were desolate. For them, it was the end.

It was the women who were coping the best with the situation. Years of caring for the dying and the dead meant that they knew what rituals to perform, what actions to carry out, and somehow these helped them to deal with the reality of the death of the one whom they had loved so much.

The women knew that Jesus was dead. They had watched him die up on the ridge when the men were too afraid to be seen around. They had watched his burial and the hasty preparations made by Joseph of Arimathea. Now they have returned to the tomb to finish the preparations for Jesus' entombment. They know that Jesus is dead.
Perhaps, they, of all the disciples, had really listened to Jesus' words about his suffering and death. Perhaps, too, they knew from their own experiences of suffering, of life and of death, that Jesus' death was inevitable. Perhaps through their rituals of preparing for burial, they had been enabled to grasp the reality of the event which they had witnessed. For whatever reason, they are the ones who are most prepared for the outstanding message that Jesus is alive and it is they who bring the first news of this to the others who huddle together in the disbelief of grief, unable to comprehend the reality of the tragedy and to move onwards in their lives.

The disciples thought that it was the end. They had broken promises, betrayed and denied Jesus. Yet the women receive the good news that it is not the end; that Jesus is alive. They have let go of Jesus in death and because of that, they are now able to receive the news that Jesus is alive.

Imagine the scene: the women have been to the tomb, they have remembered Jesus' words and they have been mulling them over in their minds as they return. The significance of the past few days becomes real and their eyes are opened. Will the others believe them? The news is exciting. It's hard to explain, difficult to understand and almost impossible to believe. But like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, the truth can be contained no longer and the story is relayed to the other disciples.

Their message is the message of the Gospel: a message of hope in the midst of despair; life in the midst of death; truth in the midst of confusion; that Jesus' life and death and new life are all part of the never-ending story of God's love and God's mercy for the people of God.

It is hard to believe, hard to believe that as respected as Jesus was, his life meant so much more than they had ever imagined—a reality which only his death could reveal and only the news of the resurrection could proclaim.

It seemed like the end and yet it was only a beginning. The first shoot from a buried seed has begun to push through to the surface of the ground; the butterfly is emerging from its cocoon and the new growth on the tree is being fed by the nourishment of the leaves which have fallen the previous year.

Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive! It's not an end but a beginning and nothing will ever be the same again! Jesus is alive! Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed.
So today we celebrate Jesus' resurrection…

Loss and grief have shattered our world this year—cyclones and floods in Australia; earthquakes in New Zealand; earthquakes, a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown in Japan; political change and military conflict across northern Africa… And that’s without thinking about our own personal griefs and losses—the deaths of loved ones; changes in jobs or health situations; moving homes…

We too have been forced to confront our own inner thoughts and feelings. What is there left in a world where our climate and environment seem out of control; when we do not know from one day to the next what fresh challenge we may face?

The message that the women receive at the empty tomb, and proclaim to the disciples is one of hope in the midst of despair; life in the midst of death; truth in the midst of confusion. It is the message of the Gospel! And this is God’s message to us now… no matter what you face, there is hope! There is hope because in and through it all, God is with us, God has been there in Jesus, and God offers us new life and new hope in Jesus. That doesn’t take away our grief, or our responsibility to help and work for others. Rather, it encourages us to face the challenges that life throws us, and to proclaim that life and hope will prevail even in the midst of grief and despair.

The challenge to us too is to face ourselves, to respond to the message of resurrection, to face down our thoughts and our feelings even our fears for the bullies which they are. Then, despite ourselves, we will know Christ's freedom to be free. We will know too that the end is just the beginning, new life does emerge from the buried seed and Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed! And the people of God are called to rise with Christ