An Easter Allegory

For too long now, we have awoken to the same tired reality. We are anxious, isolated from each other, weighed down by fears and distress, yearning for an end to the great suffering under which our society labors. For what feels like ages we have been waiting and hoping for some good news about the terrible disease that plagues us. Though not all of us have yet fallen ill, in a sense, we are all infected by its consequences.

And yet, on this new morning, a glimmer of hope has dawned. There are reports of Good News – that there is One who has found a cure for this terrible disease. How, exactly, is mysterious – but surely we can say the hand of God is at work. This sickness overcame him too, but now he has been raised up and made whole. And what’s more, all who draw near to him are themselves cured as well, healed and restored to life. Even death itself has no power in the face of the healing this One gives.

Let us then rejoice! All around us, there still remain the signs of the disease which ravaged humanity and distorted our way of life. But let us no longer cower in fear or doubt, hidden away within ourselves, unable to see the world as it has been remade. A cure for our ancient illness has been found; the One who gives it can heal all that troubles us.

Let our hope then remove our hesitancy! May we run forth to receive for ourselves this eternal medicine from the One who can give it to us. In praise of God Almighty, in gratitude for this salvation, may we celebrate the newness of life we have found in Him. May we stride confidently onward in our journeys, whole and hale, to share with others the Good News we have received – witnesses to what this One has done for us.

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Friends, this little Easter allegory is in no way intended to minimize the current danger of the coronavirus, or the suffering it is causing, or the importance of continuing to safeguard against it. But it is intended to remind us that there is no disease more devastating than the ancient foe of sin and death, and in his Resurrection, Jesus has given us the cure for that – indeed, He is Himself the Cure. What Good News that is, indeed. Happy Easter!

Henrick de Clerck, The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rottenhammer Resurrection) (c. 1590)