“Did you mean to die like that, was that a mistake? Or did you know your messy death would be a record breaker?” ! ! ! ! !
– Judas in Jesus Christ, SuperStar
As Easter people, we are called to be in the presence of the Christ.
As present day humans, we did not personally know Jesus as a man. He was not a friend whose presence was felt and then his absence endured. We are asked to know his presence, now, within us.
When those we love so deeply, for so long, or perhaps briefly, change or influence our lives, perhaps even the course of our lives, dies, we have a presence/absence/presence relationship.
We hear “He will always be alive in your heart,” “She will never die as long as you hold her memory.” Such things are said to and by us.
Often, I have found that I may even glean more of that person in the absence than I did in the presence. As time continues, that relationship may change in perception. “So that is how it was when she was my age now-oh!” Or I remember the small things made more precious by the loss of not having the ability to access them with that person in the living moment.
So, the remembrance flows forth. Perhaps when Jesus asked his friends to remember him when they ate and drank, it was a human plea in that presence foreshadowing a time when he felt he would be forgotten. We have ritualized that into communion, to grace before meals, to washing of feet. Yet, I strive for a daily remembrance in a way of being. Often I find that, often I do not.
So, to have lost Jesus as a man, to mourn his death, then, boom, here he is again, must have been shattering and wonderful. Confusing and joyful.
But, as I have loved and lost, I do kinda get that. The dead do rise again within us.We do have communion with others through them. It is possible.
In the opera, “SuperStar,” Jesus says at one point, “My name will mean nothing ten minutes after Iʼm dead. Think while you still see me, move while you still have me. You’ll be lost and so sorry when Iʼm gone!”
Well, do we? The man died. Christ returned. So do I think and move in love and lessons that the Christ asked or asks?
Just now, I received a missive in an email from a beloved friend. So, I am ending this reflection to respond~because that is how I shall be in presence now, and not in absence, while I can. See, I didnʼt know that I would suddenly end this little thought like this~and I never do know.
