Death and disease are not going to have the last word
As Easter takes place in lockdown for the second year running, the Bishop of Exeter, the Right Reverend Robert Atwell, has written this message for the Western Morning News
WE celebrate Easter this year at almost the same moment as we finally begin to emerge from a year of lockdowns – stepping out blinking from the darkness into the sunlight.
Some people have likened the experience to a kind of resurrection. So many of aspects of our life have been on hold. We have missed seeing family and friends. Now we can begin to live again.
One of the programmes I have enjoyed watching during lockdown has been ‘Fake or Fortune’ on BBC2. It is presented by Fiona Bruce and investigates the authenticity of paintings owned by members of the public where the attribution of the painting is in doubt.
I like the programme because of its amalgam of art and detective work as they X-ray a painting, test the pigments and track its provenance. The programme culminates in the thrill of discovering whether the art experts decree the painting is authentic and worth a small fortune, or just a clever forgery.
So what about the Easter story? Was Jesus’s resurrection genuine? How do we assess the evidence? Was it faked by his band of loyal followers? If so, how did they do it? Are we the victims of the biggest con trick in history?
Resurrection is certainly not what the disciples were expecting and it is all the more compelling for that. The stories in the New Testament about the resurrection of Jesus are full of raw shock, fear and astonishment. But how do we authenticate them?
Unfortunately, there were no CCTV cameras on hand to capture this unique and unrepeatable event. There were no paparazzi, no press releases, no witnesses to question – just an empty tomb and a stone rolled away. It seems that God had acted in the dark when no one was around.
But as the rumour of life spread, so these stories witness the birth of hope. They describe the gradual transformation of a group of despairing people as they encounter the risen Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus did not undo history. The crucifixion happened and the risen body bears the marks of his execution to prove it. This was no forgery – this was indeed the crucified one. But his appearance had changed; in fact, so radically that his own disciples do not recognise him at first.
A painting whose authenticity has never been challenged is Resurrection in Cookham Churchyard by Stanley Spencer.
The work depicts the village church and its graveyard on the banks of the River Thames in Berkshire, where Spencer lived and worked for much of his life. It shows the occupants of the churchyard
‘This Easter we are called to step out, blinking, into the light of Christ’s resurrection’
coming back to life and rising from their graves.
Spencer completed the painting not long after the end of the First World War and the terrible Spanish Flu pandemic which swept through the world in 1919, killing more than 20 million people.
Given the historical context of the painting, it is remarkable for its peace and serenity. In its own way, it was prophetic. It spoke comfort, healing and hope to a generation that was severely traumatised and in deep mourning.
Spencer interprets the resurrection of the dead literally, in fact with a realism that takes your breath away. He has people clambering out of their graves – some of them naked, suggesting that resurrection is a birth into a new form of life. Other figures are fully clothed as though still in the middle of their daily chores.
He blurs the boundaries between heaven and earth to show that resurrection is as much a present reality, to be experienced here and now in our own daily life, as some distant reality.
I particularly like the way, in the corner of the painting, he depicts a pleasure boat sailing on the Thames, carrying people to the joy of heaven. The faces of the people are so happy. There’s a sense of fun about it, as if it were a great adventure.
When Stanley Spencer was questioned about his painting, he said: “No one is in any hurry in heaven; here and there, things slowly move off, but in the main people resurrect to such a state of joy that they are content.”
So much of the last year has been the opposite of Spencer’s bucolic scene. The pandemic has cast a deep shadow over us. Uncertainty, anxiety, enforced isolation, suffering and death have filled our waking hours. The experience has been oppressive and depressing.
Many of us may be fearful that, despite the signs of spring, the easing of restrictions, the success of the vaccine roll-out and the drop in coronavirus cases, we are not out of the woods yet.
It’s certainly true that, in terms of the virus, the future is still far from certain. But in the resurrection of Christ, we glimpse our destiny, and the joy and contentment that comes from being held secure in the arms of God. The resounding message of Easter is that disease, suffering and death do not have the last word. Life wins. This Easter we are called to step out, blinking, into the light of Christ’s resurrection, and we can do so with confidence because God will not let us go.