We may tend to think of material, physical reality as the most ‘real’ form of reality there is. If we were to see someone walk through a solid wall or a locked door, we, like the disciples, might assume that the person was somehow insubstantial, less ‘real’ than the physical barrier they just passed through. But what if the reason why the risen Christ can walk through walls is not because he is insubstantial, but because his risen form is so real, so substantial, that the wall is insubstantial in comparison? In today’s gospel the disciples see in the person of Jesus just a glimpse of that greater reality. May we too, be granted such glimpses, and find in them the confidence to follow in the steps of Thomas and the others and proclaim the good news of the resurrection.
Tag: easter
A hymn for the Easter weekend
Every so often I write a hymn which is completely useless from a liturgical point of view, because it spans more than one liturgical ‘occasion’. Here is one such – and it’s archived on the hymns page of this site, too, along with all the other bits and bobs of hymnody that I’ve come up with at one time or another. This hymn is partly Good Friday, partly Easter Sunday. So yep, it’s liturgically pretty useless!
If we’d been there so long ago
When Jesus died upon the cross
Would we have walked with him along
That way of anguish, pain and loss?
Would we have stood and watched him there,
And heard him cry with dying breath?
Would we have seen him give his life,
and hand the victory to death?
Would we have grasped what nailed him there –
It was our pride and cruelty,
Our lying, fear, injustice – these
Died with our Lord upon the tree?
When dawn first broke on Easter day
And new light shone not from the sun
But from the Son, would we have seen
that dark had died and light had won?
But just as then, we turn our back,
The light is bright, our eyes are dim,
We live as if our Lord is dead,
And hand the triumph back to sin.
So break our hearts, these caves of stone,
To set the resurrection free,
And loose our limbs from darkness’ shroud
To live, and live abundantly.
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