An Easter reflection by guest contributor, Valerie Morse
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” ( 1 Corinthians 15:55 )
It is hard for the human brain to wrap itself around the concept of death producing life.
Although having gardened for many years now, I am still amazed that the tiny seed I’m planting will become a carrot, or a head of lettuce. They seem like such insignificant little specks. How could a large carrot be residing inside something so tiny?
In speaking of his upcoming death, Jesus told his followers that the hour was coming for him to be ‘glorified’. A strange way to describe death. Upon seeing their confusion, he explained further. “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” ( John 12:24 )
If I kept my seeds in their packages, that would be all I would have…just a handful of seeds. But if I take those seeds, and bury them in the earth, my garden will soon be alive with abundant growth…the seeds themselves having died to produce such a harvest, and that harvest will in turn, produce more seeds.
How many of us have attended the funeral of someone that we loved so dearly, feeling an emptiness, as we looked at their lifeless form? Jesus is no stranger to sadness. He wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. He knows our sorrow. He is known as ‘the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.’ (Isaiah 53:3)
The analogy of the grain of wheat that he used as an illustration fills us with wonder. Yes, we celebrate the fact that Christ rose from the dead, but Easter goes far beyond Good Friday culminating in Easter Sunday. It is an invitation to all who would believe and put their faith in him. When we proclaim with joy, “He is risen!”, may we reflect on his analogy of the seed and may we truly grasp the reality of what God is proclaiming. “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.” ( 1 Corinthians 15:54 )
Happy Easter, everyone!
