Easter, hidden and revealed.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:3-4

The Easter morning accounts in the Gospels recount the experience of the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.  Mary Magdalene, the “other Mary”, presumably Jesus’ mother, along with Peter and the other disciples, all receive special revelation of Jesus himself, risen from the tomb.  But we live by faith, as those who are “blessed, but have not seen.”  To us God’s victory in the empty tomb seems hidden.  The effects of that victory are the new life in Christ that we have, which are “hidden with Christ in God,” as St. Paul writes in the quote above.  Dealing with this hiddenness is hard, but there is wisdom in it, and the presence of the Holy Spirit to help us in our pilgrimage of faith.  Christ’s victory gives hope, and is powerful in the world.

The hiddenness of God’s victory, of God’s presence, of God’s truth helps explain the suffering, the sin and the reality of death that we experience in the world around us.  But this is a natural truth as well.  In fact, life is hidden in death all around us. Look at seeds. They die in the ground, but when the conditions are right, when there is water, and warmth, and good soil, they germinate. They sprout and grow. What seems dead actually has life hidden within it all along, waiting to appear.

This is the truth of God in Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. There is the truth of what we see, and there is the truth of things that are hidden.  God is manifest in creation in Christ Jesus, hidden so to speak, in the form of a man.  For his unfailing faithfulness to God’s will, he was betrayed to human government and religious laws, was tortured, and executed.  God’s eternal life is hidden in the death of Jesus on the cross. In the resurrection, God’s eternal life is revealed, but only openly momentarily.  It is subsumed again in the growth of the church.  Since you have been baptized into Christ’s death, you have died, and like a seed, lie hidden and awaiting germination.  You and those like you in faith germinate to become the new body of Christ, a new creation.

There is a story of old WWII Prisoner of War in Japanese camp in Singapore. The atmosphere of the camp changed dramatically when the inmates heard of the collapse of the Japanese war effort in early 1945, because one of the inmates had a short wave radio.  Although they were all still imprisoned, and wouldn’t be rescued for a while, they knew that the victory had been won.  Their release was hidden from them, but they grasped it already.  Their experience of the camp, of their imprisonment, of each other changed radically.  They all began to laugh and cry, as if they were free already.

In the same way, Easter proclaims Christ’s victory over sin and death, while, for the time being, they continue to hold sway.  To our experience, to our senses, sin and death maintain their power over us.  Indeed, they seem rampant in our lives, and the world around us.  But Easter proclaims Christ’s victory!  It may be hidden from view, but it awaits its full revelation.

Your life is hidden in Christ, but Christ is risen!  And so you live, even though you die.  And the power of Christ’s life is hidden, for now, in the way life seems defeated in our world.  You who are tired, or confused, or ambivalent, or rootless, Christ’s powerful life is waiting to be born.  Hidden in the grieving heart, hidden in the overdosed body, hidden in the neglected child, hidden in the desolation of bombs and bullets, hidden in human societies run amuck, there is already God’s new life. Hidden in the destructive, selfish logic of sin, hidden in your broken heart, hidden in the grave, is the risen life of Christ.  In you, “a new creation comes to life and grows, as Christ’s new body takes on flesh and blood.”  The universe will be restored, and being made whole, will sing, Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever. Amen.

We know that Christ is raised and dies no more.

Embraced by death, he broke its fearful hold,

And our despair he turned to blazing joy. Hallelujah!

We share by water in his saving death.

Reborn, we share with him an Easter life,

As living members of our Savior Christ. Hallelujah!

The Father’s splendor clothes the Son with life.

The Spirit’s fission shakes the church of God.

Baptized we live with God the Three in One. Hallelujah!

A new creation comes to life and grows

As Christ’s new body takes on flesh and blood.

The universe restored and whole will sing: Hallelujah!