Good Friday

The good news of ‘holy terror’

“Mark gives us a different take on Jesus’ resurrection than we typically think of…” (Image by dozemode/Pixabay)

In our Holy Week journey toward the cross, we already know that the story ends with the good news of resurrection. But Mark gives us a different take on Jesus’ resurrection than we typically think of, and it’s a take worth reflecting on this Easter.

Here are the (most likely*) final words of Mark’s Gospel: “So [Mary, Mary, and Salome] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Fear, even terror? How is this good news?

Ugly stories

Virginia Hostetler

I don’t like the cover of today’s issue. I don’t want to see it lying on my coffee table. You probably don’t either. At the top, a large uniformed man wields a whip, as armed soldiers ride toward a house below. Red and yellow flames shoot up in the background.

Missing the Crucified Woman

“Crucified Woman” by Almuth Lutkenhaus-Lackey (Photo by Susie Guenther Loewen)

The sculpture above stands on the grounds of my theological college, Emmanuel College in Toronto, of the United Church of Canada. I used to walk by her almost daily, on my way to class or the library. She has become more and more meaningful to me as I’ve learned more about her and as my knowledge of feminist, womanist, and other liberation theologies has deepened. Now that I’ve moved away from Toronto, I miss her, and I find that she is missing from a lot of our theological reflection on the significance of the cross and Easter as well.

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