Easter: Resurrection and literary references to the Bible

Well, I haven't been very jazzed up about Easter this year, which is a shame, really. This morning I felt as though maybe I'd been a little flippant about it, which I hadn't intended at all. So I sat down with the gospels and read through the end of Jesus' life. My favourite account of Christ's resurrection is the version in John, for two  reasons. First, when Mary sees Jesus, she takes him for a gardener. I like this little mention. When I visited Glamis Castle several years ago, there was a painting in the chapel of Mary and Jesus - with Jesus dressed as a gardener (with a flat, wide-brimmed hat on). I couldn't find the exact painting online, more's the pity, but I did find other similar ones.

Lavinia Fontana, 1581

This one was not at all like the one I saw, but I quite like it, I suppose for the incongruous, sumptuous Medieval feel to it. He isn't wearing a hat, but he does have a trowel. (Christus als gaer, 1507. Jacob Corn. van Oostsanen)

The other reason that I like the John version the best is because of what Jesus says to Mary when she does finally recognise him. He says, "touch me not" - and the footnote (Joseph Smith Translation) expands this into "hold me not" which is far more tender and intimate (whether you're one of those who believes Jesus was married or not). That is why I am usually disappointed with Mary-at-the-tomb paintings, as they're very stiff and not very dynamic. This is one that I like, for the colours, and the poses of Jesus and Mary, and I like the glowing angels in the tomb as well.

Noli Me Tangere, 1524. Holbein the younger.

Also, while I was reading John, what Mary says to the angels reminded me of a poem I've read. She says, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him."

There is a Kipling poem called "A Nativity 1914-18" and which one cannot help but parallel with the experience he and his wife suffered when their son went missing in the War. In fact, he directly quotes this line in his poem, as well as echoing it throughout:

The Babe was laid in the Manger

  Between the gentle kine --

All safe from cold and danger --

  "But it was not so with mine,

                  (With mine!  With mine!)

  "Is it well with the child, is it well?"

    The waiting mother prayed.

  "For I know not how he fell,

    And I know not where he is laid."

A Star stood forth in Heaven;

  The Watchers ran to see

The Sign of the Promise given --

  "But there comes no sign to me.

                   (To me! To me!)

  "My child died in the dark.

    Is it well with the child, is it well?

  There was none to tend him or mark,

    And I know not how he fell."

The Cross was raised on high;

  The Mother grieved beside --

"But the Mother saw Him die

  And took Him when He died.

                   (He died! He died!)

  "Seemly and undefiled

    His burial-place was made --

  Is it well, is it well with the child?

    For I know not where he is laid."

On the dawning of Easter Day

  Comes Mary Magdalene;

But the Stone was rolled away,

  And the Body was not within --

                   (Within! Within!)

  "Ah, who will answer my word?

    The broken mother prayed.

  "They have taken away my Lord,

    And I know not where He is laid."

      .    .    .    .    .

"The Star stands forth in Heaven.

  The watchers watch in vain

For Sign of the Promise given

  Of peace on Earth again --

                   (Again! Again!)

  "But I know for Whom he fell" --

    The steadfast mother smiled,

  "Is it well with the child -- is it well?

    It is well -- it is well with the child!"

And then, of course, if one is thinking of 1st World War biblical/poetical comparisons, one thinks of Wilfred Owen's 'Parable of the old man and the young" which is taken from the story of Abraham and Isaac:

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.

But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

Well, on that happy note...I suppose it helps one remember why Easter and the resurrection are so important, and why we so desperately need the beauty and completeness of the atonement. 

Happy Easter, everyone!