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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
August 2, 2024
Reading: Three of John Updike’s “Seven Stanzas at Easter”
Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.
It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.
Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.
Meditation - Peter Vanderveen
When I was studying Greek in college almost all of the New Testament was used as a course book. Every class, quiz, test, and exam involved reading and translating some portion of these 27 books of the Bible. There were, however, four texts that were excluded from this exercise. They were the passion narratives of each of the Gospels. My professor was of the firm opinion that there was a particular holiness to these chapters. They were to be revered; and to use them merely for instruction would be an offense, both before God and, correspondingly, to all of us. It would sully that part of our faith that is incomparably mysterious and beautiful by making it mundane – turning God’s supreme gift of himself to us into a mere lesson in grammar.
That restraint seemed revelatory and deeply important to me. I’ve never forgotten it. There are points where the Psalmist’s admonition must stop us: “Be still, then, and know that I am God.”
The Gospel text appointed for today is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ resurrection. As I read it, I suddenly heard again the voice of my professor. Granted, a meditation is not the same as academic instruction. It is intended to be devotional. Nonetheless, I was struck – it’s the only way I can express it – by an overwhelming conviction that Easter texts should be read, not individually, and certainly not with the intention of gleaning some edifying wisdom for the day. Instead, they should be read corporately and publicly and with exuberant celebration. They ought, rightly, to be reserved for those rare days that are set apart for our humbly and joyously acknowledging God’s devotion to us, when this can be accompanied by song and feast and the grand experience of recognizing this all together. Anything less feels like a diminishment.
Accordingly, I have chosen not to include Matthew’s text here – as an act of hallowing it. In its place, I have selected a portion of John Updike’s brilliant poem, which shares, I think, the same reverence. Jesus’ resurrection isn’t something to be dissected so that we can come to terms with it. We are, quite differently, invited to boldly “walk through the door.”
Prayer
Our Father, who is there, wherever it may be – who is really there,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen
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