by John Updike
Make no mistake: If he rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
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 his eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.
The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that -- pierced -- died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.
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.
Artwork: "Easter Morning" by He Qi
2 comments:
Thank you, Lutheran Chik. So many progressive Christians seem to try to back away from the Godhood of Jesus. Jesus is in fact part of the Trinity; fully human and fully God. Part of the mystery we accept on faith.
When I had my first Easter as a pastor,I struggled with my views on the bodily resurrection, but here I am two years later saying, "Why not?" Thanks for the poem.
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