XV. Jesus rises from the dead
On that morning of the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala, and Mary the mother of James and Salome found the tomb empty and heard a young man in a white robe say: He is not here. Mary of Magdala heard him call her by name, and Cleopas and his friend recognized him at Emmaus in the breaking of the bread. In the evening of that same day, he came and stood among his disciples, saying, Peace be with you, and showed them his hands and his side. As these things took place, new words broke out of the silence of Holy Saturday and touched the hearts and the minds of the men and women who had known and loved Jesus. These words were, “He has risen, risen indeed”. They were whispered from ear to ear as an intimate message that could be truly heard and understood only by a heart that had been yearning for the coming of the kingdom and had recognized its first signs in the words and deeds of the man from Nazareth. . . . As we live our lives with a resurrection faith, our burdens become light burdens and our yokes easy yokes because we have found rest in the gentle and humble heart of Jesus that belongs for all eternity to God.
Excerpt from Henri Nouwen’s Walk With Jesus, Orbis Books. Posted with the kind permission of the publisher.
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March 27th, 2008 @ 10:40 am
Greetings to All:
Some final comment. It is important to recognize that the death on the cross was by divine design horrible in every way possible. Humiliation and pain plus seeing the pain His mother experienced all are incorporated into the experience that is intend to demonstrate and teach us the way to respond to God. Henri Nouwen had the insights to give us a path to follow. Clearly Jesus was only able to accept this suffering freely by help from THE FATHER. The images provided focus on the suffering of the women in the “third world” and their willingness to accept the crosses given to them.
I appreciate the comments that each of you has provided; a lot of good reflections. I hope to reread the material and participate in future book reviews.
Carl Spaeder
March 26th, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Jack,
Thank you for doing such a good job in keeping us all thinking, feeling and praying through this book this lent.
In response to your question, my first response was, “Wow!” I had read this book two years ago and must have slept through it. Never have I prayed the Stations of the Cross before and had such an “Aha! reaction. The most striking Chapter for me was the Xth Station, as it so well describes what my husband and I are going through at this time. The whole book shows so well that Jesus did experience all that we will experience in our lives and much much more, and to a deeper extent.
Whereas I have not been able to respond each week, I feel as though this had been an extremely fruitful and unique Lent for me. Thanks to all of you for walking along with me.
March 26th, 2008 @ 6:41 am
Henri Nouwen wrote in a way that is amazingly simple but very illuminating. He used simple analogies, relatively simple words and can relate to simplify our lives. Simple thoughts like “false need for self-sufficiency and dare to ask for help”, “love that causes pain is the seed of a life where pain cannot abide”, “a hand stretched open, waiting to be touched with care, while people walk heedlessly by”,”the greatest challenge of the Christian life is to say ‘yes’ to life even in the smallest and, seemingly, unimportant details”,”the ultimate union between love and sorrow” and “as we live our lives with a resurrection faith, our burdens become light burdens and our yokes easy yokes because we have found rest in the gentle and humble heart of Jesus that belongs for all eternity to God.”
The whole message seems to be related to that cute little sign “Good morning! This is GOD. I will be handling all your problems today. I will not need your help. So have a good day! I love you!”
Simplifying my life and turning stuff over to God through Christ seems like an appropriate message for Easter!
Good job, Jack and the other participants.
March 25th, 2008 @ 10:08 am
Jesus Rises
Thank you for Walking with Jesus with us during the Lenten Season. The varied comments and observations you have shared have helped focus and refine the “wilderness journey”. Thank you all for your participation.
Are there final thoughts about this Lenten experience that anyone would like to share?