Reflections on Life and Faith,
by David Keating

An Easter Reflection

April 8, 2007

     A few years ago I wrote an Easter column that took place in the upper room of the Last Supper. It described a scene between Jesus and Judas, each looking at the other and knowing in their hearts the role that each would play in the next few hours. I called it "Heartbeat" and it's on the website if anyone is interested. I also wrote a piece called "Not My Will, but Yours." It’s a reflection on the very human Jesus who prays that the cup might pass from his lips. It's also online.

     It is up to you as the reader to decide if they "speak" to you or not.

     The reason I mention this is because, when we spend time studying and discussing faith with others, the question of interpretation invariably comes up. Is a particular story literal, or is it metaphor. Is it "true?"

     No one would think that I was in the room with Jesus and Judas and saw the look that passed between them. Nor was it my intention to suggest that the story should be taken literally. But it still touched several people enough that they wrote to me about it. It wasn't "true" in the sense of being a record of what happened, but it was true in that it had meaning for the people who read it.

     When I was growing up, no one (well, no one I knew) asked if the Bible was "true". It was accepted that this was the record of our faith. But likewise no one asked if it was historically accurate. Because it didn't matter. What mattered was the faith in God that was, and is, represented by those Scriptures.

     As we contemplate the pivotal event in Christian tradition, there are those who cannot get past the Mel Gibsonnish spectacle of blood and gore. And there are those who need the traditional language of the Blood of the Lamb for the event to have significance. There are those who, recognizing the challenges of accepting the Bible as "historical", therefore also question the reality of the faith it represents. And there are those who see the all too violent history of the church or the all too human arguments that wrack it today, and who therefore reject it as a failed spiritual path.

     But Easter is not, at least for me, about history. Nor is it about a particular set of rituals or practices. Those are as varied as the people who practice them. From shroud draped crosses to sunrise services, each has meaning for those who practice them.

     Easter, and the Resurrection, are about the ultimate triumph of faith over fear. Of hope over despair. Of the all encompassing, unconditional, spiritual love, the agape relationship, between the Creator and the Creation. Us.

     Whether you believe Jesus to be man or metaphor, the message is the same. "Love one another as I have loved you." Be in relationship with one another so closely that to hurt another would be the same as wounding yourself.

     That kind of relationship, that kind of love, transcends all fear, surmounts all obstacles, surpasses all explanation or qualification.

     On most days, I spend time contemplating the direction faith is going. How we bring new understandings and new perspectives to new generations. How we reconcile a pluralistic world and a God who is revealed in many ways to many people. Because we must do that in order to be faithful to the Creator of all things.

     But there are times, and this is one of them, when I am content to lift up my eyes to a hill far way.

     And the old rugged cross that stands there.

David Keating