Editorial: Darkness of quarantine, light of Easter
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Easter isn’t a celebration of rabbits and chocolate. It isn’t about the lilies and jelly beans and ham. It isn’t even about the church service with meaningful sermons and little kids in crisp new pastel outfits.
That’s all an important part of the annual rite of spring. It’s just not the core.
Shell that gaily decorated egg, and you find the bird inside is a phoenix. A celebration of rebirth, Easter is all about rising from the ashes. The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection teaches that there is nothing too dark to overcome.
That is why if we must spend a holiday in quarantine, there may be no better allegory than Easter.
More than that, perhaps the day we should identify with most right now isn’t Easter Sunday. It’s Holy Saturday.
Saturday isn’t the day that gets the most attention during the slow march from getting palms on one Sunday to getting a basket of sugar on the next. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are better known for their roles in the saga — the Last Supper and the crucifixion.
But Holy Saturday is the day between death and resurrection. It is the twilight of a world waiting, holding its breath in preparation for new life. It is the darkest hour before dawn.
And that’s where the world is right now as we try to celebrate amid the pandemic shutdown.
Our homes, our lives, our communities are all seeds in the dark, waiting in the place between the disease that is infecting and killing thousands and the day that we know will come when the danger has passed.
When that day comes, the seeds will bloom in a riot of color and life and joy. We need to focus on the promise of that future to get us through.
Easter doesn’t just celebrate the light that comes after the dark.
It rejoices in the faith that the darkness doesn’t last forever and the sun will always rise.