Make no mistake: if He rose at all
\nit was as His body;
\nif the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
\nreknit, the amino acids rekindle,
\nthe Church will fall.<\/p>\n
It was not as the flowers,
\neach soft Spring recurrent;
\nit was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
\neyes of the eleven apostles;
\nit was as His Flesh: ours.
The same hinged thumbs and toes,
\nthe same valved heart
\nthat \u201d\u201d pierced \u201d\u201d died, withered, paused, and then
\nregathered out of enduring Might
\nnew strength to enclose.
\nLet us not mock God with metaphor,
\nanalogy, sidestepping transcendence;
\nmaking of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
\nfaded credulity of earlier ages:
\nlet us walk through the door.<\/p>\n
The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
\nnot a stone in a story,
\nbut the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
\ngrinding of time will eclipse for each of us
\nthe wide light of day.<\/p>\n
And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
\nmake it a real angel,
\nweighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
\nopaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
\nspun on a definite loom.<\/p>\n
Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
\nfor our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
\nlest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
\nembarrassed by the miracle,
\nand crushed by remonstrance.<\/p>\n
–John Updike (1932-2009)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring…<\/span><\/p>\n