Festal Eastertide!

We celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus albeit we live in ostensibly or perhaps irreparably riven world!  Martin Luther alerted us: “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring time." Nonetheless clear-headed and self-composed people are shell-shocked by domestic discord and seismic eruptions created by extraneous factors during these vernal days.

Our striving for the holy grail of the thing called ‘ life’ is never only about us or the cabal we fit in. Our world has been morphed into a snake pit because we hang on to staggering penchant to be criminal like the explorers, allegedly, colonizers and settlers through the ages – to lie, pillage, rape, torture, murder, dehumanize and inflict emotional harm and psychic scars on others for generations. Many communities of faith observe and celebrate special events in the spring season. The pitiless partakers – of both ephemeral fiasco and blowout conquest – are duty-bound to observe Purim, a festival that commemorates the liberation of Hebrew people by Queen Esther, the holy Lent and the holy month of Ramadan!

Every so often we are left with a rhetorical question: What is the ethical rationale for evil? The answers might be more convoluted than the query itself. Perhaps it is a path to underscore humanity, empathy and truth. Public opinion or corporate fib is not truth. Even our private life or personal space might well be a disingenuous rejection of truth. In Black History Month, the media reported a chorus by deceitful politicians, “I’m the least racist in the whole wide world.”  Nevertheless, with no desire to demonise another image of the creator as blinkered, there are people in all realms with similar hateful preconceptions!

The late archbishop Desmond Tutu eminently decreed that “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

Mark Twain once said, “God created war so that Americans would learn geography.” At the beginning of the holy season of Lent, having corroborated many chips on too many shoulders as well as flip-flop peace and war saber rattling, the media recounted, “EVIL Ali Khamenei has been killed after a massive blitz on Iran”. The reaction to this heartbreak is both celebratory validation for some and deduced denunciation for others. One military commander, in an abortive crack to hallow an ill-starred warfare, stated that bombing Iran is “part of God’s divine plan.” If you have a good head on your shoulders, you would gleefully steer clear of such a monstrous god no matter what school of thought or hauhau or faith community you belong to.

Do we ever get to see our combative deportment fade away? Plato once said: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”  In January, 2026 Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother and Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse were killed by Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There are scores of evil tyrants who suffer from the dark triad namely malevolent traits of mendacity, narcissism and sociopathy. Sun Tzu warned us, “An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.” Such nefarious micromanagers are eclipsed by women and men of compassion and goodwill all over the globe.  

Winston Churchill once said, “You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else.” And an old axiom “There is enough darkness in the world without us adding to it” informs us we are not paralyzed in our darkened moments. Worrywarts, oblivious of personal gaffes, love to knock down others who mind their own beeswax.

There are those who keep saying, “I couldn’t think of me out of my loss.” However, there is a way out of your grief and loss. Life is full of detours, distractions, disruptions, disinformation, tribunals and quandaries that are strong enough to pull your lives apart; the writers of the Good News of Jesus use “temptations.” We get distracted either by toxic people or by the perennial concerns of others. At the end of the day, people feel a need to be appreciated and treasured by those around us, especially our communities of faith.

Maybe a fully human Jesus, survived three temptations along with “many dangers, toils and snares” as John Newton, the 18th century captain of slave ships and slave trader sang. Religions use several numbers like three, seven, ten, forty, fifty or six hundred and thirteen! The unknown author of Hebrews 4:15 uses a metaphor that "Jesus is a high priest who can sympathize with human weaknesses because he was tempted in every way just as humans are, yet he remained without sin." Lent is an opportunity to own up temptations of Jesus as ours.

No different from his rudderless ancestors in the desert for forty years, Jesus was tempted to bury his head in the sizzling sand for forty days! We are misled by camouflaged devils – be it the decoying pomp and pizzazz of the political and religious institutions and black gold in the desert.

Millions of people are swamped with political upheavals from Mexico to Myanmar and Venezuela to Greenland. Faith communities spin bonkers paloozas such as pageantries of Palm or Hosanna Sunday, rituals, fasts, feasts and melas as risible showbiz on social platforms which peters out their impact on faithful adherents. Our polarized world is fuelling incensed gatherings and irate protests almost every day and everywhere.

In his epic poem Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore escorts us out of the temple to the empirical world of Iran, Gaza, Ukraine etc. where people endure devilish experiences: “He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones…..Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.” Therefore, resurrection, a transformative experience, would not transpire in Jerusalem but elsewhere where crucifixions happen during these dismal days!

Too many bees are buzzing in the head as if they are trapped in your hat. Martin Luther King Jr. was spot on when he stated “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” In spite of the commotions around us, we have many friends and family members in dire straits – many ongoing experiences of non-druggable loneliness, young people cheesed off by uncertainties in the job market, mid-east carnage are still stomaching imposed long-term hassles etc.

Rapid ageing due to prolonged lifespans helps to be candid about past experiences with people and places. In life, we need a longer runway to blast off, get off the ground, become airborne, go sky-high towards the lodestar – a star that serves to navigate - in spite of our present dark times. Golden years is a misnomer for caducity when the elderly grapple with unmanageable concerns such as healthcare and housing.

Lent gives us solemn discernments about the last days Jesus here on earth and we sing with Jacques Berthier ancient words of the contrite criminal’s prayer from the cross.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. (Luke 23:42)

In our sinister world of dukkha or suffering our nations are spearheaded by either exceptionally inspiring global leaders such as our Prime Minister Mark Carney or too many deviously demented kleptocrats. We are blessed with a lodestar that keeps us on the straight and narrow. Any and every nation needs a mensch – not a schmuck - to navigate its worthy citizens towards promising prospects and bright future.  

A beacon of risen life, that routs dukkha, is cardinal for the faithful. The Apostles’ Creed provides us a shared memory: “Jesus who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.”

Our calling is to breathe new life into the valley of dry bones. “A dead Jesus I must do everything for; a living Jesus does everything for me.” affirmed C.S. Lewis. The risen Jesus transmutes our mortality into a ‘transit hallway’ towards the holy presence of God. Our well-being is about good health, relationships and contentment in life. The intrepid women who had the audacity to greet the risen Jesus in the deserted garden began the oldest strategy of joy and jubilation!

We bump into inevitable flashpoints in life and thankfully feel empowered by life-long renewals, second chances, detours and fresh starts. So did Maya Angelou who reassures us:
“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, 
I am the dream and the hope of the slave. 
I rise, I rise, I rise.”

“Jesus is Risen”
"Truly, He is Risen"

[The Rev. Dr. John T. Mathew is an ordained minister in The United Church of Canada who served several urban and rural congregations in Ontario, Canada since 1974. He taught in the Department of Religious Studies, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario. Mathew was awarded Merrill Fellowship at Harvard University Divinity School and served as Pastor-Theologian at the Princeton Center of Theological Inquiry. He was Ecumenical Guest Minister at St. Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen (Church of Scotland) and served St. Andrew’s Church in Gore, Southland, New Zealand.]