Hope Springs
The Day After Easter
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
—The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5
It’s taken me a lifetime to understand Easter. I am Jewish, so I didn’t think about it all that much. And it’s still hard to get Monty Python’s “Blessed are the Cheesemakers” out of my mind. But I’ve come to consider Jesus our greatest prophet—and perhaps something more, a portal through which to glimpse the ineffable. I tend to choose my solstice festivals according to aesthetics. Christmas is more lovely than Hanukkah. Passover is my favorite Jewish holiday—but Easter always seemed too sanguineous and unlikely. (All you have to do is watch Mel Gibson’s relentless film version of the Passion.) Prominent scholars of early Christianity like John Dominic Crossan and Elaine Pagels debate whether any of his followers were even there when Jesus was crucified. Most scholars agree a crucifixion did take place since it is such an unlikely end: a God who dies. You have to build the Greatest Story Ever Told—and the greatest symbol ever imagined, the cross—to explain that.
There are other debates: Christians have been taught to believe that Jesus rose—bodily, literally—on the third day after the murder; but Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 makes a crucial distinction:
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There are lots of references to seeds and planting in Paul’s previous verses—and so the purpose and nature of resurrection becomes clear—at least to heretical old me. The “natural” human body is the seed planted by God; the spiritual body is the flower. And therefore this: the ancient pagan Spring solstice festivals, the inspiration for Easter, were about planting, with joy coming when the flowers bloom. (The Passover liberation of the Jews was also about effulgent freedom…and the need to behave responsibly…and to follow 10 Commandments, the hortatory Jewish version of the Beatitudes.)
I look out my window, on this rare sunny April day on Cape Cod, and I see the magnificent elm on our front lawn—a historic elm, according to the plaque on its trunk!—giddy with buds, about to explode with life renewed.
Theological resurrection may be about the consequences of death. Vernal resurrection is about the renewal of life. It means more to me this year because of the jarring, unnatural nattering of Donald Trump, who is too much with us; the unnatural, unplanned rhetorical games as he holds power over life and death—negotiating strategy or negotiating idiocy, who knows?; the unnatural crudeness of his Easter Sunday Truth Social post; the thudding ignorance of Hegseth, who thinks we are doing this for God. Talk about bloodthirsty. Talk about inapt. But, by contrast, the green shoots and buds in the yard seem so much more precious.
The cashier at the store gave me a spray of daffodils yesterday—for free! They are the most smiley of flowers, almost banal in their joy. I giggled and gave them to Sanity Goddess, who was pleased.
What better way to celebrate Springtime than to join us here at Sanity Clause:
Ditto and ditto. Given that we are possibly on the brink of some Armageddon, I plan to appreciate the simple presence and willingness to take one day at a time embodied, for this NOW in my garden. The birds and squirrels are nesting. The groundhog has already pupped, all the world is greening, and even in their banality the daffodils dance on the ends of their stems. Namaste, Spring, namaste.
Joe, it’s obvious that your TDS metal illness afflicts your every thought. I prefer President Trump’s weave, or as you call it “nattering”, over the in your face lies of B. Hussein Obama, Crooked Hillary and Basement-AutoPen Biden. I agree with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that much of the conflict which this administration is engaged, both domestic and foreign, is a battle against Satanic forces.
I find it entertaining and uninformed when non-Christians preach that Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is the roadmap that Christians should follow. Our Creator God also creates warriors; consider the Old Testament chronicles of David and Johnathan and others. President Trump is the warrior many of us have prayed for and we see divine intervention when he turned his head to escape a potential assassin’s bullet.
In only 250 years the United States has had an abundance of small- minded critics of some of our greatest leaders. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, George Patton, Curtis LeMay, etc. etc. etc. have all been criticized by lesser beta males and maternal “K”s.
And Joe, I’ll help you out with your whole renewal of life diatribe. God’s Word says there is not a transition from a physical body to only spiritual. It’s one of the most wonderful verses in scripture, specifically;
Revelations 21 - A New Heaven and a New Earth:
“1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”
With all the time in eternity I can see Donald Trump playing a few rounds of golf with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He may even give Him a Mulligan here and there. Now that would close the circle of your Sermon on the Mount graciousness.