Easter On the Other Side of Deconstruction
Trust me when I tell you, this was one of the less
triggering images.
I'll be honest, Easter has always been a little weird to me, and a bit anti-climactic. I've always felt like I'm supposed to conjure some intense emotion of celebration, but most of the time, it felt like any other Sunday. Or an even a weirder Sunday, because I felt guilt that I wasn’t compelled by the narrative of Jesus's blood covering over my sins.
Jesus died for my sins is such a singular, individualistic, and narrow explanation of the significance of what Jesus is doing on the cross. I had to manufacture ways to find my behavior ultra-problematic in order to find his message compelling. But it just felt… uncompelling. I have heard beautiful stories from individuals who have been deeply impacted by the idea of forgiveness for what they have done. But I don’t think that can be the entire story. I don't feel like the fact that sometimes I'm a bitch, merits the greatest cosmic sacrifice that the world has ever known.
I do believe that what Jesus is doing is significant. But maybe not for the reasons that I was told it was significant. That’s because the people who tried to make meaning from Jesus’ death were looking at it through a very individualistic lens, a very male lens, from the position of people with power, and eventually the position of empire. And that’s never going give you good theology.
Today, in 2024, I need to know: What does Easter mean for the people of Palestine? What does Easter mean for Christians in Bethlehem who have been silenced and ignored by their wealthy Christian siblings abroad, siblings who are funding their very demise? What does Easter mean for a country built on the military-industrial complex? What does Easter mean for the children in Congo and Sudan? What does Easter mean for a country that refuses to reckon with its own history. What does Easter mean for corporations that are ruthlessly exploitative of the earth, animals, and humans?
If Easter does not have anything to say to injustice, to empire, to corruption, to misuse of power, to unbridled capitalism that treats creation, children, the poor, Indigenous, Black, Brown, disabled, and queer people as utterly expendable, then I am not very interested in Easter at all.
I know it will take time to make meaning from Easter again. Followers of Jesus took hundreds of years to make meaning after his death and resurrection. For those of us who have only begun to release, interrogate, and question the idea that Jesus was on the cross because God is the shittiest parent that's ever existed and simply can't stop being angry without beating the s*** out of his only son in order to love us, I think we can be gentle with ourselves and the fact that it's going to take time to explore new meaning.
I will share the one reflection that has drawn me in and kept me curious these last couple of years. The thing that has felt relevant about Easter, has actually been the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on what is often referred to as Palm Sunday. This is another major event that I've had a hard time relating to because it's often titled the Triumphal Entry. But that is not really the vibe I get from it. Jesus has spoken so clearly and starkly about why he is going to Jerusalem; we know that the people will turn against him. What is the purpose of the parade? A parade that is…. not very impressive. Is it a triumphal entry, or is it a small little entry, with some cheering?
A scene from Ben Hur 2015
The way that Jesus chose to come into Jerusalem became significant when I learned that Rome staged a true triumphal entry that same week. Pilate didn’t live in Jerusalem, he lived 60 miles away in a lovely coastal town. But his role was contingent on his ability to keep people under control, and so he made the journey to Jerusalem and typically entered on the first day of Passover week. He was accompanied by hundred of soldiers, chariots, foot soldiers, all armed and dressed for battle.
The nature of Passover is to think about liberation from the oppressor. It is to remember and consider getting out from under the heel of slavery under the Egyptians. So as these Jewish people lived under Roman rule and were spending their days reflecting on their history of liberation. Of course it stirred liberative dreams in their imaginations. And because Rome knew this, it would stage an incredible show of military power into Jerusalem in the season of Passover. A true Triumphal Entry, full of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Roman soldiers on foot, on horses, in full regalia, with the highest level of weaponry available at that time.
Rome wanted the Jewish people to know, with vivid clarity, that any kind of rebellion would be crushed thoroughly, violently, and conclusively. This clip from the 2016 version of Ben Hur helped me see this with clarity.
Rome was an empire, and it maintained control through its military dominance. And so Jesus's decision to also stage a public entrance into Jerusalem and to choose to do it on a donkey, reads as a direct contrast, and explicit rejection of the militarism and empire of Rome. Jesus has said repeatedly that he is also bringing a kingdom. ( I don’t love this language, but Jesus is using it to create contrast to the kingdom/empire that surrounds them. ) Jesus’ is clear that his kingdom is not going to be built on coercion, violence, fear, and militarism. And that is something that I can hold on to. It is something that gives me hope that what is happening on the cross is so much more than covering over suburban boys and their struggle with masturbation.
In the time since Jesus lived, Christianity has made the terrible decision to marry itself to institutionalized power and has hence become the symbol, through both the Catholic and Protestant Church, of empire, militarism, colonialism, and genocide. And that is something that Christianity has yet to reckon with.
But I choose to go back to the decision that Jesus made- as a Jewish man, living in Palestine, under Roman Empire, during a time when liberative dreams were stirring among his people. In the face of empire, militarism, and the temptation to believe that violence is the only way to build something, he chose to ride in on a donkey. After hundreds of soldiers had marched into that very city, that very same week. And that choice makes me feel like what happens on the cross could have more meaning than I have been led to believe.