209 Comments
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Doug Carpenter's avatar

Dietrich Bonhoeffer would be proud of you. And I certainly am. - Doug Carpenter

PR Stockhausen's avatar

Disturbing for sure, but well done. I appreciate this analogy to explain

Carol Rietveld's avatar

My words cannot describe how much your post has depicted precisely my feelings throughout Holy Week this year. Amen

Kim Winchell's avatar

So very powerful, and wrong, what has been done. 😔

Good people: rise up.

gene tascott's avatar

Can I truly 'share' this to others? I am not a practicing Christian, but I do consider myself a good person. This montage brought the resurrection I learned about in Sunday School.

Diana Butler Bass's avatar

There are share buttons on the essay! That means share!

George M's avatar

The telling of the Passion and death of Jesus precedes the story of the man's restoration to new Life as Christ, a universal embodiment of greater potential life for every creature. Comparable to the spring that breaks out of winter's death, Christ personifies active hope, the creation of new forms of life and human society, the transformation of what is into what ought to be, what is desired, freedom, joy and peace in abundance for all creation.

Terry Fortman's avatar

This dramatic depiction of the parallels of contemporary events with the experiences of Jesus is telling. Diana has put it in terms that even the harshest cannot deny. It is a moral felony we see unfolding before our eyes. Diana suggests to me there is no excuse.

Diana Lanane's avatar

This is powerful and disturbing.

Mary Liz's avatar

Amen. Completely and absolutely.

Claire Van Den Berg's avatar

I’m a UMC minister in South Carolina. A group of church members re-enacted this text at our Good Friday service last night. Reading your article with the current photos really is frightening how nothing much has changed in two thousand. Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday.

Rev Leanne's avatar

As I write it is Easter Sunday here in Aotearoa New Zealand. We have returned from church, where we celebrated resurrection. Even as we sang our hymns and songs, I thought how csn I sing, when I see what is hapoening in Gaza, the West Bank, to people in the usa? Our preacher asked us what was the 'good' we understood Jesus doing.... and I replied "Challenged empire". To all of you doing the challenging, the peace of our Risen Lord be with you.

Diana Butler Bass's avatar

The Lord is Risen! And may we rise in love and liberation!

Rev. Theresa Lewallen's avatar

Your posting brought me to tears as I prepared to lead the Good Friday service. It included so many connections that I had not made. Thank you for your spiritual and prophetic wisdom.

Tony V.'s avatar

The interweaving of Scripture, modern images, and Wendell Berry’s grief-struck verse left me breathless. The line “It is the destruction of the world / in our own lives / that drives us half insane” speaks not only to ecological ruin, but also to spiritual collapse under systems of violence and indifference.

And yet… “There was something about him that proved to be stronger than death.” That line from Marianne Borg rang like a bell. Thank you for reminding us that crucifixion was not the end. Empire fails. Empire always fails.