Images of Easter

“…that men may rise on stepping stones of their dead selves to higher things.” Tennyson, In Memoriam

The Imagery of Easter…in what ways is the pageantry understood? How do we wrap our arms around it, understand its message, experience its power? Can we, with finite minds and feeble hands, grasp the reality of resurrection? We each have our own instincts, our sixth sense of spiritual esoterica. What’s yours?

Perhaps it’s a smiling child with a basket filled with Easter eggs, hidden by the Easter Bunny. Maybe it’s ladies in brightly-colored hats and pastel dresses in church. Perhaps it’s family gatherings, dinners with biscuits and ham and deviled eggs, or sunrise services, or choirs singing Christ the Lord is Risen Today. There’re plenty more.

My images of Easter changed with age. Easter eggs were replaced by other things. But they remain vivid in my mind. Tuesday, in the Baptist Church service, I sat beneath an Easter lily. It brought to remembrance a close friend, Paul Rogers, who died at 49, and he always expressed Easter with lilies. On the steps of our home one always showed up.

The Cross, draped with purple linen, is a powerful symbol of Easter. Our former Atlanta church, Peachtree Road United Methodist, erects a 14-foot cross of rough-hewn beams. On Easter Sunday, it’s transformed by thousands of multi-colored flowers, a stunning symbol of new birth that Easter epitomizes.

Jesus knew our limitations. He demonstrated in real-time life the fact of resurrection. The awaking of Lazarus is one such event. Lazarus had died and was entombed for four days. Martha, his sister, couldn’t grasp the meaning of Jesus’ words, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” She did, but like us, she needed something more solid than words.

At the tomb Jesus said, “Take the stone away.” He prayed and a hush fell upon the expectant crowd. Then he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth, and he that was dead came forth…” If we were part of the crowd, what would have been our reactions? What images would we have taken away from that empty tomb?

Sometimes I walk among the oaks at Epworth, a Methodist retreat on St. Simons Island, dating to the days of James Oglethorpe and John and Charles Wesley. In the Joe Harvey Memorial Garden stands a white marble statue of the resurrected Christ with outstretched arms. The garden gives testimony to the faithfulness of this man, Joe Harvey.

Both Joe and Paul were infused with the spiritual power of an endless life. They realized resurrection was possible every day. God may not grant to us overcoming life, yet He does grant to us life as we overcome. Through their lives these men left images of the resurrection. In their several statements of faith, they joined Abel, of whom it was said “…and by it, he, being dead, yet speaketh.”

John Donne penned his image of Easter in the poem, “Death Be Not Proud.” He wrote, “Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so, for those whom thou thinkest thou dost overthrow die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me…” He believed that death was swallowed up in victory.

The scars of Christ are stark and visible images of death. Each of us bear some scars of life, yet through Christ we have the power to transcend their stigma. That is the reality of resurrection.

Death’s cold sneer, as hard as stone, makes a cruel mockery of the frailty of faith. We often stand beside the raw, red earth of a new grave, attempting to grasp the reality of faith, yet doubting. It’s the human condition.

We are Lazarus. The words, “Lazarus, come forth,” is a call to leave our dark worlds of doubt and allow the rebirth of life to raise us to higher things.

Let the outstretched arms of Christ revitalize our Image of Easter this week as we move from the gloom of Good Friday to the Sunrise of Easter Resurrection.

And may we all rise on stepping stones of our dead selves to higher things. And I don’t think our Lord would hold it against the Easter Bunny for its role in the miracle of new birth.


Bud Hearn
April 3, 2015