{"id":144642,"date":"2026-04-20T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T16:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=144642"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:53:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T22:53:49","slug":"frederick-buechner-for-easter-it-doesnt-have-the-ring-of-great-drama-it-has-the-ring-of-truth-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=144642","title":{"rendered":"Frederick Buechner for Easter\u2013\u2018It doesn\u2019t have the ring of great drama. It has the ring of truth\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From there<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is not a major production at all, and the minor attractions we have created around it\u2014the bunnies and baskets and bonnets, the dyed eggs\u2014have so little to do with what it\u2019s all about that they neither add much nor subtract much. It\u2019s not really even much of a story when you come right down to it, and that is of course the power of it. It doesn\u2019t have the ring of great drama. It has the ring of truth. If the Gospel writers had wanted to tell it in a way to convince the world that Jesus indeed rose from the dead, they would presumably have done it with all the skill and fanfare they could muster. Here there is no skill, no fanfare. They seem to be telling it simply the way it was. The narrative is as fragmented, shadowy, incomplete as life itself. When it comes to just what happened, there can be no certainty. That something unimaginable happened, there can be no doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The symbol of Easter is the empty tomb. You can\u2019t depict or domesticate emptiness. You can\u2019t make it into pageants and string it with lights. It doesn\u2019t move people to give presents to each other or sing old songs. It ebbs and flows all around us, the Eastertide. Even the great choruses of Handel\u2019s Messiah sound a little like a handful of crickets chirping under the moon.<\/p>

The Pilgrims of Emmaus on the Road (Les p\u00e8lerins d'Emma\u00fcs en chemin) #artbots<\/a> #tissot<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/DTtpDuX1wq<\/a><\/p>— James Tissot (@artisttissot) October 20, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>