Easter Morning

By Uli Chi

April 20, 2019

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

John 20:15-16a (NRSV)

 

Heaven and earth’s Lord

appears as a gardener

to Mary.

 

“Why are you weeping?

Whom do you seek?”

Jesus asks.

 

The sadness of paradise lost,

of hope destroyed.

Our memories lie disordered.

 

We weep even as the

Great Reversal appears

Noli Me Tangere by Lavinia Fontana (1581)

Noli Me Tangere by Lavinia Fontana (1581)

incarnate before us.

 

Like Paul, our vision

becomes scaled

with the appearance of the Son.

 

For Mary, the scales

drop away with a word:

“Mary!”

 

The One Who Names

addresses his beloved daughter

and recognition is instant.

 

Arms flung around,

clinging to all

that was thought lost.

 

Astonished relief

at Paradise Restored

in the Presence of the Gardener.

 

New Creation.

Heaven on Earth.

The End is

Beginning.

“Easter Morning” from Life in the Intersection by Uli Chi, p.43. © Uli Chi, 2011

Something to Do:

In anticipation of Easter tomorrow, contemplate today’s text, poetic reflections and visual art.  The artwork is entitled Noli Me Tangere (“Don’t Touch Me”) by Lavinia Fontana (1581) – see also this YouTube video on her work.

Prayer:

“Easter Dawn” by Malcolm Guite

He blesses every love that weeps and grieves
And now he blesses hers who stood and wept
And would not be consoled, or leave her love’s
Last touching place, but watched as low light crept
Up from the east. A sound behind her stirs
A scatter of bright birdsong through the air.
She turns, but cannot focus through her tears,
Or recognize the Gardener standing there.
She hardly hears his gentle question, “Why,
Why are you weeping?”, or sees the play of light
That brightens as she chokes out her reply,
‘They took my love away, my day is night.’
And then she hears her name, she hears Love say
The Word that turns her night, and ours, to Day.

Amen.

“Easter Dawn” from Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year by Malcolm Guite, p.44. © Malcolm Guite 2012

Explore more at the Theology of Work Project online commentary:
My Kingdom is Not of This World (John 18:36)

Uli Chi

Board Member, Senior Fellow, Affiliate Professor

Dr. Uli Chi’s career is a testament to his unique approach to leadership. He has navigated the realms of for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, the theological academy, and the local church, gleaning a wealth of wisdom from each. As an award-winning technological entrepreneur, h...

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