In yesterday's post, I looked at the role the
celebrating or otherwise marking Easter might have within Quaker
communities, and in terms of a Quaker community's relationship with
the community in which it is situated. Today, I will continue the
exploration of Easter, but on a more spiritual note. I will look at
the story/stories behind Easter, its history, and what meaning we
might take from it.
As I have explained previously, I think this is
important for Quakers. This is because, where we observe the
traditional testimony concerning times and seasons at all, we tend to
only remember half of it. No day is more holy, or more significant
than another, which is important. However, the early Friends did not
reject the lessons and meaning of holy days, just their fastening to
a particular day. The same argument applies to liturgical seasons.
Thus, it would be taught that we do not observe Easter, or other
holidays, but that we should remember the lessons and meaning of
Easter all through the year.
Now, of course, with the cultural pervasiveness of
many holidays, it is (in my experience) a rare Quaker that refuses
any observance of the holidays at all, yet I see little deep
engagement with the meanings of these festivals, whether at that time
of the year or otherwise.
Those who know me, but have not read my earlier
posts concerning times
and seasons, might wonder why I have developed a sudden focus on
Christian holy days. There is no need to worry about any sudden
personality change; my point is that the lessons and meaning of these
festivals, these stories, are there regardless of your belief in the
underlying faith. Different, perhaps, but then the meaning is in many
ways different for us all. I think the same is true of Jewish, Hindu,
or Muslim holidays, neopagan festivals, and stories that are not
associated with a time of year. However, growing up in England at the
time I did, Christian festivals are those I know best (though we did
cover Hindu Diwali repeatedly when I was in primary school in a very
culturally diverse area – it's a very interesting story in itself).
I'd love to cover other holidays, if I can find appropriate
collaborators.
So, that's the potted background – now on with
Easter!
I would be surprised if the vast majority of my
readers weren't familiar with the story of Easter. At least the Last
Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection are very pervasive in
the the English-speaking world, and indeed in the European-derived
cultures around the world generally. The overall story of Holy Week
will be fairly well-known, as well. It is a remarkably rich and
nuanced story, with many elements from which we can draw meaning.
First in most people's understanding seems to be
the death and resurrection of Christ, with its cargo of
substitutionary atonement. Christ died for all of our sins, and was
resurrected in evidence of his divinity, and as a sign for the
resurrection that awaits the faithful. This is a powerful meaning, to
be sure, and one that can be appreciated without belief in the
specific religious significance of it. It is a story that I would
appreciate and see great meaning in were I to find it in a work of
modern fiction – even if it were not a transparent allegory for the
Christian story (for example, see the death and resurrection of Aslan
in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe).
Any western writer featuring a death for the good of others followed
by a resurrection if prone to being seen as such an allegory, thanks
to the pervasiveness of this story, though I'm not sure I always see
it that way myself.
One of my
favourite fictional settings is Elizabeth Moon's “Paksworld”, the
term referring to the setting introduced in her seminal work, The
Deed of Paksennarion. It is an
epic fantasy novel in three parts, in a relatively Tolkienesque
fantasy world, but most of the details are not relevant here. The
main religion featured in the original trilogy is the “Fellowship
of Gird”, one of several faiths revering a chief god, the High
Lord, by way of a saint, a human who lived a particularly – though
not exclusively – virtuous life, doing great deeds, who now serves
the High Lord as the figurehead of a faith community, able to work
miracles in the world through their followers. A prequel, Surrender
None, dealt with the life of
Gird, how he came to be a leader, and how the High Lord blessed him –
and somewhat directed him – during that life. At the end of his
life, strife is brewing more than ever between the two groups of
people that he hoped to bring together in peace and harmony, and the
High Lord gives it to Gird to be the channel of a great miracle, to
remove that ill-feeling, if only for a time. The working of this
miracle kills him, as he knows it will as he allows it to happen.
Some would see
Gird as a Christ-figure, but I cannot see it in the same way as the
death and resurrection of Aslan in the Chronicles of
Narnia. In that case, we can be
quite sure of its nature as an allegory for the final elements of the
Passion – not only because of the heavy cues in the text itself,
but because the author confirmed it. In the case of Gird, I am aware
that those who want to only read fiction with a Christian message
have engaged in some degree of debate about the validity of Gird as a
Christ-figure – and indeed similarly regarding Paksenarrion, the
central figure of The Deed.
They seem to be undecided, and without confirmation from the author I
cannot see them as similar enough to be a clear allegory. The themes
of redemption, universal love, sacrifice and life after death (no
bodily resurrection occurs, after all) are not that specific to the
Christian story. However, I am quite happy for others to read those
parallels into the story. That's the beautiful thing about stories –
they are always co-productions between the originator and each
individual who receives them.
But enough about
allegory in literature. The point there is simply that this story is
so pervasive that it comes up everywhere, and that we tend to see it
even when it's not quite there; the themes are present without
necessarily being allegory. Which is to say, however pervasive the
story might be, at least some of the key themes are even more
pervasive. Osiris was killed out of jealousy, and restored to life
(albeit temporarily), then went on to rule the world of the dead.
Odin was hanged from a tree, wounded with a spear, and (arguably)
died, in order to attain the wisdom with which he is associated –
to be used for the good of the world as a whole. Dionysus was killed
either before birth or in infancy, but was restored – this rebirth
being important in some cult activities in the ancient world. The
idea of the death of one, often a ruler, to take the place of an
entire people or nation has old roots, with such sacrifices of rulers
known in various ancient cultures; natural discomfort at this idea
may have been a factor in the development of various animal sacrifice
practices.
Thus the Easter
story, and the concept of the redemption of humanity through the
(temporary) death of Christ, is both a highly specific story, vitally
important to the Christian tradition, and part of a pattern that
exists across a wide range of space and time. Inasmuch as we can
judge from modern beliefs, however, it was quite alien to the Jewish
context of the time; atonement for modern Jews is, as far as I have
determined in my own reading, a highly personal thing, expiation for
sins to make things right between the individual and God. That said,
there are elements of the Talmud and the Tanakh that could be taken
to indicate the idea of one standing for many when it comes to
retribution.
Thus the
resurrection was proof of Jesus's divinity, and his death atonement
for the sins of the world (while not all Christian sects have always
subscribed to substitutionary atonement, it is overwhelmingly the
common conception today – though still not universal). Just who
qualifies for the benefit of this atonement is a matter of more
disagreement of course, and is best left as a subject for another
day.
The part of the
story of most interest to me, however, must be the matter of Judas
Iscariot. Judas betrayed Jesus to the authorities, taking payment to
let them know when he would be alone and vulnerable. In English at
least, his name has become a byword for the most vicious sorts of
betrayal. He is also one of the greatest points of apparently
contradictory diversion in the Gospels, with extremely varied
accounts of the details of the betrayal, his motivation in so doing,
and his fate after the Crucifixion. One account has him betraying
Jesus due to the devil “entering into him”, while others suggest
dissatisfaction with the course taken by Jesus and his followers.
One thing is
clear, however. Jesus knew he would be betrayed, broadly in what
manner, and by whom. He did not try to resist it. This is consistent
with it all being in line with the divine plan. It was necessary that
Judas, or one of the 12, betray Jesus. Casting Judas as a villain
seems to me somewhat unfair. If his actions were simply in
furtherance of divine necessity, then he also sacrificed. Jesus
sacrificed his mortal life; Judas sacrificed his honour and his good
name. Both were necessary to the fulfilment of Christ.
This, to me, is a
key example of the role of the Easter story for the modern liberal
Quaker, be they Christian or not. Stories are conveyors of meaning,
but they are also prompts for thought. In this story, as in all
others, we must seek to see beyond the meanings that are widely
accepted. By thinking on them with our hearts open to the Spirit, we
may find the Light illuminating in us a new insight – not
necessarily novel or original, but new for us. It does not even
matter whether we have come across that insight before. When it is
opened in us by the Divine, or indeed when we reach it for ourself by
other means (though I find the spirit-led insight more effective), it
is made whole and real in a us in a way that simply receiving it as a
lesson cannot achieve.
At Easter, or at
any other time of year you choose to do so, you might dwell on this
story, bring both reason and Light to bear on it, and see what
insights you might find.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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Did you enjoy this post, or find it interesting, informative or stimulating? Do you want to keep seeing more of these posts? Please consider contributing to my Patreon. More information is available in the post announcing my use of Patreon.