Idle Tales

Easter is at the heart of what Christians proclaim as the good news. As difficult as it is to describe, without Easter, there would be no Christian story. The life of Jesus matters because of Easter. The surprise of finding an empty tomb, the encounter the women have with the “men in dazzling white”, Mary’s conversation with the one she assumed to be the “gardener” each tell a piece of the story of the resurrection. My favourite is the story about the encounter on the road to Emmaus; which is everywhere and yet nowhere. Try explaining that one so it can be proven! But that is the point. Easter moments are to be experienced, not explained, and certainly not proven. Resurrection is at the heart but resurrection is not synonymous with resuscitation. The story tellers actually go out of their way to make the point that there was something not recognisable about Jesus, even to those who knew him best. That, I would argue, is the most convincing part of the story. Their eyes were kept from recognising him. He was there, yet different and nobody believed, without having their own experience. The women of Luke try to communicate the incredible experience on that first Easter morning but are quickly dismissed as tellers of idle tales. The Greek word used is the root of the English word delirious, and is translated loosely as “idle tales.”

Thanks goodness we have those details about how hard it was to believe based on the account of another. They invite us into our own encounters with resurrection.  Nobody can put into words effectively, those times when all of a sudden life has changed, a new outlook emerges, and things look and feel quantitatively different. The most incredible moments of my life, when I’m filled with excitement and joy about something too good to be true, can never be truly appreciated by another. So, I can believe that the lives of those who knew Jesus best were deeply transformed because death did not have the final say. He was present even for those who had been closest, in a completely new way and nothing was ever the same again. Suddenly, there was hope, there was purpose, and his final act of self-giving love made sense to them. These first followers were given what they needed to continue on the dangerous path of transforming the world with love and compassion and inclusion and healing and empathy and hope. And they did and so will we.

A faith for today is not so different than a faith in that day.  It depends on allowing our hearts to be strangely warmed, our minds to be opened, resistance to what others might see as idle tales to be challenged. Our own moments of resurrection depend on living into the good news of resurrection, and by participating in Easter moments, we too will believe.

Rev. Donna Tourneur ministers among the people of Trinity United Church in New Glasgow.