April 17, 2022
The first Easter parade was just a crowd of women going down the street where once they had sang Hosanna.
Another time they had gone with him to death. Now it’s just themselves – two Marys, Joanna and other women.
The parade was dull, without the one they followed – but they wanted to care for the body with spices, using only the best.
And then it was all different. They saw no body, which frightened them more than any death could have. Then there were angels with strange messages, but their hearts believed quickly and they remembered what he had said. Often, he had talked of death and resurrection. He was the sort of man for whom evil and death could not be final.
They were then to go to the apostles, and they were to find out that caring for Christ’s body now would be a different thing. The women announced this divine news to the men. This would have been contrary to the culture at the time, but Jesus went against a lot of beliefs and prejudices.
Caring for the body of Christ now means caring for each other. They would spend the rest of their lives caring for the new body of Christ, and we’re the same in caring and being cared for. The risen Christ is in all of us.
We are his body. Not a word of God can be spoken without human words. God reaches us through each other.
The Easter parade now is made up of all of us following our risen Lord, following life that never dies, and the truth of the gospel that can keep us going. This is the love of the risen Lord, which is the lifeblood of the Church.
Jesus Christ you are risen,
you are risen indeed,
Alleluia, Alleluia.
