04202022 –Easter Wednesday…
We do not talk about the Devil, Satan, Diabolus, Abaddon, Moloch, Apollyon, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Prince of Darkness, Mephistopheles, the evil one, the great deceiver…enough.
I know, I get it – the whole image conjures up the horned guy with the “red union suit,” “pitchfork in hand” and that “sly look of foreboding on his face”…and not to be forgotten, are “the flames of Hades…all about him…” Torment, anguish, pain, agony, suffering, distress, and everlasting horrors…are his…BUT…
There is this poem…I ran across entitled something like … when dust laughs…
“spring has ambushed winter,
and the dust of the earth is, yet again,
transfigured into wind-dancing laughter.laughing dust? not here-in this graveyard of abandoned joys
where dead-ended dreams whisper
like violated ghosts among tombs of those too-soon returned to the earth. you just smile – and sink your spade
into the sun-warmed sod, costly corruptions composted, turned, turned again, until soil recognizes soil. then you wink, just once, and the remembered dust, tantalized by the tickle … of a new feast’s first thin blade, laughs.”
It was said, that when the rabbi from Nazareth, breathed his last and his chin fell heavily down upon his chest…that satan let out “an uproarious laughter…” It was funny. It was long in coming…you can almost imagine it actually happening. He had finally won. The long battle over…the victory his and his alone.
“Good” had succumbed to “evil”…and evil ruled…evil had won the day, evil had triumphed period.
A woman by the name of Sheila Hunter wrote a song entitled…Laugh in the face of the devil.
“Is there a place deep inside you
that’s closed up like a tomb? She wrote. No light can get through to that dark place-for the Healer – there is no room. There’s NO ROCK – TOO BIG for God to move, NO NIGHT – to dark – to see God’s light. So let’s JOIN TOGETHER and with God’s help-let’s push with all our might”
And the devil laughed on Good Friday, the taste of victory being so sweet, too sweet…the sweetest hands down.
Jesus of Nazareth was no more and God himself could only hide in shame, such was the loss of his only son.
So, Satan’s laughter continued throughout his kingdom all day on Good Friday and well into Holy Saturday. It was the best Sabbath EVER.
Friday being one day, Saturday being the next. And Sunday was coming but WHO CARES. He had won. He was victorious. The battle was over. His was the ultimate prize.
His laughter continued as the women gathered their spices and marched off into the darkness of the new morn, and headed for that HOLY SEPULCHER…
That is, until they reached the spot, and the stone was moved away, and they were greeted by angelic words, “He is not here, HE HAS RISEN,” even as he told you. And the evil one’s laughter slowly died out… and was heard no more throughout his kingdom.
It was the wisdom writer who fashioned the book called Job, who wrote…“God will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” – Job 8:21.
Well, the women were not there YET, but they would be-soon enough. Fear and trembling and sadness and death would all be transposed, transformed into life again. But not quite yet!
“Risus Paschalis”— has been translated as being “the Easter Laugh.” Sadness is to be no more. The last laugh, the final laugh, the eternal laugh, belonged to God.
So when you hear of soldiers being paid off by members of the Sanhedrin, with concocted stories of disciples coming and stealing the body – laugh out loud.
When you think of stories spread, and rumors passed on by word of mouth and untruths told – just laugh boldly.
Hidden in the first book of the holy scriptures, the book we call Genesis or “In the beginning” you will find these words written there…
God has made me laugh. Everyone who HEARS will laugh with me. – Genesis 21:6
God continues his laugh as death IS no more. But people have a harder time. The loss is great. The loss affects us all. The loss seems insurmountable. But God insists we should laugh ANYWAY, because our loved ones will live again. And one day, we will not only SEE them, but be REUNITED together again. May your sorrow turn to laughter. May the light of God’s brightness be cast into all places of darkness…and may you SMILE again…
So, I have some quick ones, to toss out to you: What’s the best way to make Easter easier? Put an “i” where the “t” is.
How does Easter end? With an “R”! (DUH!)
Where does Easter take place every year? Where EGGS marks the spot!
How can you make Easter preparations go FASTER? Use the EGGSpress lane!
What should you do to prepare for all the Easter treats? Eggs-ercise, of course!
Easter is the celebration of God having the last laugh. A laugh echoing throughout all eternity…a laugh that will one day be ours, when we are joined together again.
Amen.