Good Friday and Easter: Confronting the Reality of Death
I saw my first corpse in middle school. My cousin Tammy died from AIDS complications at age 28. She was one of the most beautiful members of our family. During my last visit, lesions covered her frail frame. Only hospital blankets and IVs hid the marks.
At the funeral, I struggled to recognize her. The body in the coffin looked so different from the vibrant person I knew. The sight of grieving aunties collapsing in tears shocked me into silence.
Someone whispered that she rested in a better place. I stared at her dead body right in front of us. Her spirit lived with Jesus, but we consist of more than spirits. What about the physical body that laughed and cried with me? That part of her did not go to a better place. It simply began the inevitable process of decay.
A Vision of a Restored World
Many Christians view the afterlife as a disembodied bliss. They picture a paradise full of naked baby angels strumming harps. They imagine our souls bouncing from cloud to cloud. However, Christianity never taught a disembodied future in heaven. Our actual beliefs are much more radical.
We believe God will eventually transform the entire created world. He will make it exactly what He always intended. This new world will lack pain, death, and sorrow. Yet, this earth will still hold many beautiful things from this life. We will enjoy food, art, mountains, lakes, beaches, and culture. The renewed creation will feature hip-hop, spirituals, and soul music. We will even eat grits with cheese, salt, and pepperânever sugar.
Christians trust that God will resurrect our bodies from the dead. We will live on this transformed earth. God will perfect and transfigure these physical forms. But they will remain undeniably our own bodies.
The Weight of Black Suffering
All of this weighs heavily on my mind today. I think about the unjust reality of bodily suffering in this world. I also anticipate the glorious embodied future in the next. These thoughts guide me as I observe Good Friday and celebrate Easter.
Recent years have brought an overflow of Black suffering. I wish I had never seen the painful videos of Anjanette Young or Ahmaud Arbery. Sadly, I have seen them. I long for a world where African Americans survive Covid-19 at equal rates. Unfortunately, that world does not yet exist.
We are hurtling toward an Easter celebration right now. But the last few years have felt like an extended Good Friday for many Black bodies. Bodily suffering remains a constant feature of the African American experience. We intimately know the persistent disregard of our physical bodies. This disregard stretches from the auction block to the lynching tree. It continues right down to the knee upon the neck of George Floyd.
Stewardship of our Painful History
My birthright as a Black child of the South included painful memories. I watched grainy footage of Emmett Tillâs family fainting. They collapsed at the sight of his disfigured body. His mother demanded an open coffin for a specific reason. She wanted to show the world the horrific results of anti-Black racism.
She hoped this undeniable malice would bring true repentance. Sadly, we humans easily ignore the harm we cause one another. We simply refuse to see it. History also entrusted me with images of Coretta Scott King. She stood veiled, dignified, and caring for her children. The entire world mourned the death of her husband around her.
These funerals serve as a heavy stewardship for us. These images of lynched, maimed, and martyred Black bodies stand as a stark reminder. They show us the incredibly high cost of Black freedom.
The Systemic Roots of Tragedy
Nobody murdered my cousin Tammy. However, she lived as a poor African American woman on Medicaid in the 1980s. She struggled to find doctors who would accept her insurance and treat her.
During that time, society and the government downplayed the AIDS epidemic. They linked the disease primarily to the gay community or illicit drug use. Because of this stigma, doctors diagnosed her far too late. All of these systemic factors directly contributed to her death.
Finding Meaning in Good Friday
Physical suffering like Tammyâs sits at the very core of the Christian story. Good Friday asks Christians to remember the crucifixion of Jesus. This solemn day highlights exactly what happened to his physical body. Roman guards mutilated him and put his broken body on public display.
Crucifixion served as a brutal tool of Roman imperial terror. The empire reserved this practice largely for slaves, non-citizens, or traitors. The state intended to send a clear message to the disinherited. It reminded them about the absolute power the empire held over their vulnerable bodies.
Excerpted from original article.
Related article: Holiday reading: African Influence on Easter (Ancient & Modern)
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