Had some fun this week with a cartoon I did for the St Matthew-in-the-City Easter billboard. It made page 3 of the NZ Herald and was even reported about on a couple of the TV news programs tonight (primarily because the media were waiting to see if it would be as controversial as their last one.) I think we did pretty well!
According to a few comments on the Internet, it's “blasphemy”. For me, it sums up the following point made by Marcus Borg; “If Jesus had been only a mystic, healer and wisdom teacher, he almost certainly would not have been executed. Rather, he was killed because of his politics – because of his passion for God's justice.”
There's the meaning of Easter right there; ie. the crucifixion as an inevitable consequence of speaking truth to power, rather than a “sacrifice atoning for sin”. And yes, being nailed to a cross for something you said would suck. And I don't think Jesus, being human, really thought in that moment that he was coming back from it. But he did, when those who had followed him realized the meaning of his life, rather than his death. And that's true resurrection. Not a reanimated dead body, but in bringing to life an idea that will never die. That's Easter for me.
May you find your own Easter truth this year!