We are social beings. We like to interconnect with one another. Even those of us that are introverts, still need that social contact. Oh there are the few hermits out there, who enjoy complete solitude, but they are the exception and not the rule.
Easter is a time of connection. Families get together for meals. Children are often invited to go on large Easter egg hunts. People travel to spend time with one another. Like Christmas and Thanksgiving, Easter has been a time to congregate.
This year is different though. With the advent of COVID 19 we are being asked to stay home. In order to keep everyone safe, we won't be having huge church gatherings. Families won't be travelling. Children will be hunting for Easter eggs with just their brothers and sisters and not in large groups. It will be just so different. It won't be like any Easter we have ever known.
I have been trying to think about what this all means. What could I compare this too? How does this relate to the season of Easter? How does it relate to my faith? Then I began thinking. Jesus disciples had gone through much the same thing. They were in Jerusalem celebrating Passover. Why they had even entered the city with great fan fare. Then all of a sudden Jesus was arrested on Thursday and died on the cross on Friday. This year, I think I understand their feelings. I understand their sense of loss. They had come to celebrate Passover, not watch their leader die. With Jesus dead, what would become of their past years of labour with him. Their job security, as disciples, was in question. They were now in hiding, self isolating themselves from the authorities who might be after them next. At the end of Holy Week, the disciples faced their own COVID.
However, I can hear you saying, the difference is for the disciples it was just two days. Easter was just around the corner. Good Friday and Holy Saturday was awful. Can't anyone get through two days? On that Friday and Saturday, their pain was very real, and they had no idea how long the pain was too last.They didn't know that Easter was just around the corner.
We don't know how long our time in exile will last. We are not quite sure what the world will be like when we walk out of our tombs of self isolation and social distancing. Like the changed world Jesus' disciples faced, the world that we know will be forever changed by this virus. Yet, I know that in their darkest hour, God was with the disciples. In our time of darkness now, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God.
