Article April 1, 1985 Issue

Resurrection, not business as usual

CAROLYN F. RUFFIN

Suppose you had left your old job to go to work for a good cause, and you had begun to see some real results from what you were doing. Then all of a sudden the whole effort fell apart disastrously. It wouldn't be surprising, despite all you had invested, if you were to put the losses behind you and get back to business as usual.

But don't we find it just a little surprising that Christ Jesus' disciples, in the days following the crucifixion, went back to their old work—went fishing? After all, we say to ourselves, he told them he would be resurrected. And they knew he had already raised others from the dead—Jairus's young daughter, for example, and Lazarus, who had been in the grave four days. The disciples, of all people, should have known better.

Still, if we look at them from this perspective, we miss an important lesson, one we could use right now. Whether we feel increasing despair at finding no solution to droughts and famines in Africa, or we are frightened by the escalation of war and terrorism, or we are battling recurring illness or repeated family strife, what those disciples learned in the dark days following the crucifixion holds answers for us. Their first reactions are not unlike those we hear today when newscasters report tragedies nearly every night.

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