One of My Reflections on Resurrection

The view of resurrection probably differs from person to person, depending on whom you are speaking with. On the one hand, there is always the institutional perspective, but there is also the personal one. My own personal view of Easter and the symbolism of Easter is, above all, reflected in the relationship between death (of something old) and resurrection (of something new). The concept of sin fits very well within the context of resurrection. Sin, if we accept it in that sense, is often inherited, sometimes more than it is acquired. Sin is a mirror of how the past shapes our present. As individuals, we commit greater or lesser sins, but inherited sins are socially far more costly, because they are institutionalized and structural. Much more than we realize, our lives are shaped every day by political, social, religious, educational, and other institutions formed by collectives.

The resurrection of Jesus stands as a concept of great change—of the kind brought about by revolutions. It is perhaps much more possible to work on individual resurrection than on institutional resurrection, yet within this relationship of breaking away from something and the resurrection of something new lies the building of a world that does not wish to repeat earlier mistakes. As it is said in the Gospel of John: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

But that is hard work, and that is probably why, after the Sabbath had passed, the women who had bought spices to go and anoint Jesus were frightened by the resurrection and fled from the tomb, filled with fear and trembling, as stated in the Gospel of Mark. Where there is talk of resurrection, fear reigns. It is not simple in one’s own life to break with something and then experience personal resurrection—let alone a social and collective one that brings major institutional change. This image of fleeing from the tomb in apprehension and fear has always seemed to me like a reflection of the ever-living human desire to struggle toward changing important social institutions for the better. The road to resurrection is thorny, very often resembling a fight against windmills, and resurrection itself inspires fear.

Even good intentions can lead to bad outcomes when we behave stubbornly and without self-reflection. Current global changes and upheavals aimed at breaking with the established institutions of the global order also provoke fear. Resurrection is a cosmic theological phenomenon, but one whose symbolism offers great earthly potential. Resurrection begins with ourselves and extends to the institutional confrontation with structural sins embedded in the pillars of institutions. Resurrection also sends the message that death should not be feared so much, because death is not the end—and here by death I mean it more in the sense of the fear of experimenting personally and institutionally, of learning from mistakes, of recognizing and accepting them, and then breaking with the old and the bad. Institutions find this especially difficult to do.

Resurrection inevitably carries the idea of breaking with the old, and sometimes it is difficult even to imagine a different life—whether one’s own or that of the institutions surrounding us—so we anchor ourselves and accept the impossibility of change. We flee from the very thought of the idea of resurrection in any direction. That moment in the Gospel of Mark is truly a scene filled with powerful meaning.

Happy Easter!