Easter 2.0

"We can't experience the joy of Easter unless we do our Good Friday work."

Walter Brueggemann, one of the leading living U.S. theologians, made the comment appearing as an epigram of today's column, in 1991 as a guest speaker at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, my alma mater.

Brueggemann went on to explain his remarks by suggesting the thrill of Easter is often dulled by the neglect of the events leading up to Jesus' resurrection -- particularly the Master's flogging, his dignity-robbing walk to Golgotha and his crucifixion between two thieves.

The scholar, now long retired, said Christians tend to make an annual jump between two mountaintop experiences -- Palm Sunday and Easter -- and ignore what he called the "valley" in between.

The valley could be described as Judas' betrayal, the arrest in Gethsemane, Jesus's short trial, and you know the rest.

On this day, we hear "Alleluia! Jesus is risen!" without stopping for a moment to think through our own well-known experiences of death.

Occasionally, when invited to do and my schedule permits, this writer will serve as greeter at funeral visitations.

Combined with a previous long-term vocation in pastoral ministry, it is not boasting to say death is not foreign to me.

Once life leaves a body, there is no mistaking the transformation.

People know when a loved one dies, the spirit animating the deceased has fled.

We know this, of course, but on Resurrection Sunday, those of us attending Easter worship will blithely repeat the cadence asked of us in liturgy as though it happens every day: "Alleluia! Jesus is risen!"

Brueggemann would argue our rote willingness to utter such an amazing statement without reflection is an example of the lack of "valley" work.

Once people die, what you've known is gone, never to return.

The message of Easter is, "Hold onto something solid. Take a breath. Brace yourselves. I've got something incredible to share."

Living in a digital age with mind-blowing special effects, perhaps our wits are dulled to the Easter story by virtual of living in this time.

As you read this column this weekend, let me invite you to revision Easter by taking Brueggemann seriously as the most important day on the Christian calendar dawns by asking a question.

Have you done your Friday work?