Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!

I recently came across a short quote that goes like this:

“If we wish to quench our thirst, we must lay aside books which explain thirst and take a drink.” (Jean Pierre de Caussade, Abandonment to Divine Providence)

For this Easter morning we could modify this slightly and say, If we wish to know resurrection, we must lay aside books which explain resurrection, and experience it for our ourselves.

But this puts us in a bit of a difficult situation.  Our Bible, the book of books, is the central witness we have for the resurrection.  This year we hear from Luke’s account of the events on Easter morning.  On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women come to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.  But they find the stone rolled away, with no body.  Instead, they encounter two men in dazzling clothes who say to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.”  This is what it says in the good book, but this is hardly an explanation for resurrection.  It’s more the reverse.  Resurrection is the explanation for Jesus’ body not being in the tomb.  The women, who were initially terrified, leave the tomb and tell the other apostles.

I admit that it’s right about this time of year that I go digging around in books to be reminded of some of the things that have been written about resurrection – explanations always welcome.  One of these books that I appreciate is called The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions.  The two visions of Jesus are provided by Marcus Borg and NT Wright, both top Bible and religion scholars and both deeply committed Christians.  Marcus Borg comes at things…