Resurrection Laughter

by

“Easter is that moment when the laughter of the universe breaks through. It fades, of course, like a distant radio signal on a stormy night. A lot of noise and static crowds it out. But once we have heard it we know from then on that it is there. It is God’s last laugh.”–Harvey Cox

Where Was Mary?

Where was Mary when she heard the news?  

Mary’s name doesn’t appear in the resurrection stories. I picture her with the remnant of Jesus’ followers hiding behind a locked door in a quiet corner of Jerusalem.

Suddenly, just as the sun was rising, the women who went to embalm the body came rushing through the door. Gasping for air with sweat from the early morning heat dripping down their foreheads, they chattered over each other through breathless shock and unrelenting tears, “We went to take care of the body, just the way we had planned.” Their voices quivered, “But when we got there…”

Their bodies shaking, they went on, “The stone they rolled in front of the tomb was pushed aside, knocked over, rolled away!” Stupefied by the surprise, Mary Magdalene stammered, “Some strange men were standing by the entrance. We froze, too afraid to move.” Halting, not sure she dared to believe what she was saying, she blurted out the news, “They said we were looking in the wrong place, though God knows there was no mistaking where we laid his body!” The words were flowing quickly now. She declared the unbelievable announcement, “The men told us he had been raised and was on the road ahead of us! They said he was going to Galilee and would meet us there!” 

Did Mary Laugh?

Silence! Everyone turned to Jesus’ mother to see how she would respond. As they watched and waited, I hope they caught the faintest hint of a subtle, knowing smile through Mary’s grief. Perhaps they heard something close to laughter; not giddy or silly laughter, but a surprising warmth that percolated from a crack in her broken heart. In the depths of her grief, she knew something no one else believed could happen had happened! 

I hope Mary laughed with the kind of laughter that takes us by surprise at the sheer audacity of a seemingly impossible promise coming true. I hope she laughed the way Jesus described the joy of a woman whose baby arrives after painful labor. I hope she laughed like the woman in Proverbs who “laughs at the time to come.” (Prob 31:25 NRSV) I hope Mary wept with laughter that Frederick Buechner described as “glad tears at last … tears at the hilarious unexpectedness of things rather than at their tragic expectedness.”

If Mary laughed, and I’m pretty sure she did, it was a deeper, pain-soaked version of the laughter of a story that suddenly turns in a direction we never expected but which turns out to be the only ending that can satisfy our deepest hunger and highest hopes. It’s the joy that takes our breath away when the beast we thought was dead turns into a prince, when Sleeping Beauty is awakened with a kiss, or when Aslan breaks the wintery curse over Narnia and spring comes again.  (Adapted from Surprised By Mary: How the Christ Who Was Born through Mary Can Be Born Again Through You , to be released by Cascade Books later this spring.)

Laughter as Real as Death

Evil is no laughing matter. Suffering and death are real. They are the inevitable results of the same injustice, violence, dishonesty, greed, political manipulation, and struggles for power that nailed Jesus to the cross. The resurrection does not provide a convenient denial or simplistic answer for suffering. The Risen Christ still bears the scars of crucifixion. (John 20:19-29) They are the unmistakable marks of the awesome reality of injustice, suffering and death.

The empty tomb is the inconvertible witness to the power of God that ultimately triumphs in and through evil. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was resisting the brutal powers of antisemitism and jingoist nationalism in 1930s Germany when he affirmed the hope and power of the Resurrection.

“I believe that God can and will let good come out of everything, even the greatest evil. For that to happen, God needs human beings who will let everything work out for good. I believe that in every moment of distress God will give us as much strength to resist as we need … In such faith all fear of the future should be overcome … It may be that the day of judgement will dawn tomorrow; only then and no earlier will we readily lay down our work for a better world.” (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 46,51)

We saw the same courage and heard the same hope-filled laughter in Martin Luther King, Jr, Oscar Romero, and Desmond Tutu. I’ve seen it recently in friends who are facing major risks to their health and families with a settled assurance that is released in joyful laughter in our conversations. It is the relentless joy that emerges out to lives that have been nurtured in a constantly growing relationship with the Risen Christ.

Laughter at the Grave

Father Robert “Griff” Griffin served for three decades as the chaplain at Notre Dame University. During the long illness leading to his death at 74, he boldly declared, “Death is a bully whose nose should be tweaked, and I hope to be one of the tweeters.” He said, “I want to be present at resurrections that defeat death’s victories … I want to greet death, when he comes irresistibly, with insolence and swagger, as though I were a baggy-pants clown to whom the final snickers belong.” (Easter Earthquake: How Resurrection Shakes Our World, p. 82)

Listen for what Dante described as “riso del universo,” — “the laughter of the universe” as we sing:

Sing with all the saints in glory, sing the resurrection song!

Death and sorrow, earth’s dark story, to the former days belong.

All around the clouds are breaking, soon the storms of time shall cease;

in God’s likeness we, awaking, know the everlasting peace. 

Life eternal! heaven rejoices; Jesus lives, who once was dead.

Join we now the deathless voices; child of God, lift up your head!

Patriarchs from the distant ages, saints all longing for their heaven,

prophets, psalmists, seers, and sages, all await the glory given. 

Life eternal! O what wonders crowd on faith; what joy unknown,

 when, amidst earth’s closing thunders,

saints shall stand before the throne!

O to enter that bright portal, see that glowing firmament;

know, with thee, O God Immortal, “Jesus Christ whom thou has sent!”

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

Jim

The Rev. Jim Harnish is a retired clergy member of the Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. This post is republished with permission from his blog. "Sing with All the Saints in Glory" is in the Public Domain. Text: Easter Vigil Lyrics: by William Josiah Irons, Easter Lyrics by Christopher Wordsworth. Sung to Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."