Resurrection, continued: It deserves two posts

I just ran across this poem from Mary Karr via 22 words. Striking and beautiful.

Descending Theology: The Resurrection
by Mary Karr

From the far star points of his pinned extremities,
cold inched in—black ice and squid ink—
till the hung flesh was empty.
Lonely in that void even for pain,
he missed his splintered feet,
the human stare buried in his face.
He ached for two hands made of meat
he could reach to the end of.
In the corpse’s core, the stone fist
of his heart began to bang
on the stiff chest’s door, and breath spilled
back into that battered shape. Now

it’s your limbs he comes to fill, as warm water
shatters at birth, rivering every way.

Resurrection

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.
Stop doubting and believe."

Doubting Thomas [1602-1603] Caravaggio

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."(John 20:27-29)

Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
(1 Corinthians 15:55)

Saturday: day two

I'm guessing that Saturday wasn't much better than Friday for Jesus' disciples and other followers. They were mourning and grieving Jesus' death for sure, but what else was going through their minds? Their leader and Savior had just died a gruesome death on a cross. Did they feel that hope was lost? Were they anxious for what the next few days would bring? The 11 didn't believe Mary Magdalene when she came to tell them that Christ was risen. Given that, I'm assuming that they weren't anticipating his resurrection. They didn't recall his words or maybe didn't grasp their meaning. Tell us again, how was this a part of the plan?

When Jesus has risen, he appears to two of his followers on the road to Emmaus. They don't recognize him at first.

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Don't you remember? Don't you see? Let me tell you the story again.

Good Friday

King of my life, I crown Thee now,
Thine shall the glory be;
Lest I forget Thy thorn crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.

Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

Maundy Thursday

Christ Washing Peter's Feet
Ford Madox Brown (1851-56)