That time God died

It is that time of year again – Easter – that time God died.

What does that even mean? A man who, to all accounts,

welcomed and sided with the vulnerable, the down-trodden,

a man who went around doing good – miracles of kindness expressing

love. And why did he die? Why did they murder him? For what grievous

crime did they take his life?

Only that that those with power felt their position threatened,

and threatened only by his kind acts and confronting words.

Religious leaders, the rich, and the political leaders – willing

to see the death of the innocent as a small price to pay for their

hold on power, better that one die for the many they said.

And the crowd, happy to ask no questions, find themselves

complicit in the murder of an innocent man – and for what I

don’t even know.

 

And so the man who was God died. Died, not through lack

of strength, but because of it. Died, with the will to love, not

the will to power, reigning supreme. Died, a course willingly

chosen, through not of his own hand. Died, not with hate, but with

forgiveness, on his lips.

 

And what about us? Here, now. How different are we? Have we

learnt from the sins of our fathers? Perhaps. We declared it the war to

end all wars. And yet, we now talk openly about perpetual war. After the

Holocaust, we said never again. And yet, our abandonment of those cast

aside by wars of the rich and powerful grows unabated. Even at home,

the plight of the poor among us is a stain on our affluence. And from

our great halls of government to the street, hateful words and deeds

seem only to grow more common whenever our own comfort seems

at risk.

 

I can only admit to myself – that time God died – it would

happen today as it did then.

 

That time God died. Maybe it meant something then, and just maybe,

the effects echo through the corridors of history, reverberating

hope even to the present day. That time God died, maybe just maybe,

death itself was dealt the decisive blow, ushering in a new age. A

new age open to all who would come, where the death of God brings

the life of God to us all. Resurrection.