Most of us know at least one person who always has
to have the so-called “last word” in
any discussion. This person can never, under any
circumstances, be wrong and must always
justify his or her position. The words, “I
told you so!” are heard all too often. Many
of us might think that people who always have to
have the last word in a discussion are ill-mannered
and self-centered.
But sometimes the last word is important.
A story is told of the way the
news of the victory at Waterloo first arrived in
England. There were no telegrams or telegraphs in
those days. But everyone knew that [the Duke of]
Wellington was facing Napoleon in a great battle,
and that the future of England was up for grabs.
A sailing ship semaphored –
signaled with coded flags – the news to the
signalman on top of Winchester Cathedral. He signaled
to another man on a hill, and in that manner news
of the battle was relayed from station to station…to
London and throughout the land.
When the first ship came in bringing
the news, the signalman on board semaphored the
first word: Wellington. The next word was Defeated – and then an unexpected fog rolled in, hiding
the ship from view.
“Wellington defeated”
traveled all the way across England. And a great
gloom settled over the countryside.
After two or three hours, the
fog finally lifted and the message came through
in its entirety: Wellington Defeated the Enemy.
Then all England rejoiced.
The three-day wait for Jesus
while he was in the tomb seemed to be an answer
… the entirety of the glorious message eventually
came, and in the Resurrection God had the final
word. 1
What seemed so certain, beyond dispute
on Friday, was proven purely and simply wrong in
the light of Sunday morning.
Imperial Rome will not reign.
Caiaphas and the crowds will not be the victors.
The law that brought about Jesus’ death is
not supreme. The scribes and the Pharisees will
not prevail. But there [is] …Jesus the Victor,
wise as heaven and stronger than the gates of hell.2
I like that description of the Risen
Lord: wise as heaven and stronger than
the gates of hell. Death, and the
manifold powers of death, did not win the battle.
God won! But it took some time for it to happen.
Many of us grow impatient with life’s
illnesses, inconveniences, bureaucracies, snafus,
and occasionally meaningless experiences. We may
wonder where God is – or has gone –
when it comes to our lives. We look at the great
tragedies of our world in our life time: wars, genocides,
tidal waves, tornados, train wrecks, bombs detonated
against innocent, unsuspecting people. And we wonder
where God has gone. Perhaps we wonder if God even
cares any more about his human creation.
Thomas Merton reminds us that God
cares and is involved.
In the old days, on Easter night,
the Russian peasants used to carry the blest fire
home from church. The light would scatter and travel
in all directions through the darkness, and the
desolation of the night would be pierced and dispelled
as lamps came on in the windows of the farm houses,
one by one. Even so, the glory of God sleeps everywhere,
ready to blaze out unexpectedly in created things.
Even so his peace and his order lie hidden in the
world, even the world of today, ready to re-establish
themselves in His way, in his own good time…3
Evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus
is all around us.
A Midwestern newspaper publisher
told of the following experience he had recently:
“I had pulled into the drive-through
lane of a fast food restaurant on Eldorado Street
to pick up a sandwich and a drink to take back to
the office. A few cars ahead of me, there was a
middle-age woman standing in the drive-through,
talking to the driver of the car. I figured that
she either worked at the restaurant, or was walking
by and the driver was somebody she knew. But then
she walked away from that car and approached the
driver of the next car.
“I then realized that she was
asking the drivers of the cars for money!
“I have a family of six to
feed!” I heard her tell the driver in a loud
voice. “I’m hungry!”
“About that time, two employees
of the fast food restaurant suddenly appeared and
ordered the woman off the property. I got the distinct
impression that this was not the first time she
had been begging for money in the drive-through
lane. ….
“The woman who was begging
on this day disappeared from the drive-through and
the parking lot and the line of cars continued to
move slowly forward as food was ordered and picked
up. A few minutes later, as I was still sitting
in my car waiting for my turn at the window, I saw
a man heading to his car in the parking lot carrying
several drinks and bags of food which he had gone
inside to purchase -- probably to avoid waiting
in the long line of cars.
“After he had managed to open
his car door and, about the time he was preparing
to put the drinks and bags of food inside of his
car, the same woman I had seen earlier approaching
the drivers ahead of me, confronted the man with
the food, as an employee inside the restaurant yelled
for him not to give her anything.
“The man, apparently touched
by her plea, handed her all of the food and drinks
that he had purchased to take with him -- probably
for his own family. The woman turned and quickly
headed out of the parking lot and disappeared down
Eldorado Street with food and drinks in her hands.
“The man headed back into the
restaurant to apparently replace the order that
he had just given to the woman. I was touched by
the man’s compassion and immediate response
to need. Instead of being angry that someone had
“imposed” upon him, or rejecting the
woman because she “would probably buy drugs
with the money”, he had compassion and gave
her his food. …
“I also realize that, in this
day and age, many of the people begging for money
want to use it to purchase drugs to feed a habit
that is destroying them -- and there should even
be a safety concern when being confronted by some
individuals who are in desperate need of drugs.
However, I wonder how many people use the above
“common sense” feelings to avoid doing
much of anything to help others when they are asked
for help?
“I never saw the woman begging
in the drive-through before and I haven’t
seen her since. I never saw the man who had compassion
on her before that day -- and I haven’t seen
him since.
“Maybe she immediately pawned
the food off for a little money to buy some drugs.
Or maybe she is a mother with five children to raise
who had exhausted every possible avenue to feed
her family and simply decided to beg because they
were all hungry.
“I don’t know her story.
“I do know the story of the
man who helped her.
“He was someone who didn’t
take the time to analyze all the reasons that he
should not help her -- but responded to the one
reason that he should.
“She needed food and he had
food in his hands.
“He acted with compassion.
“It’s reassuring to know
that, in a world that is often the focus of news
stories about insensitivity and indifference, the
Good Samaritan is still very much alive -- and made
an appearance in the parking lot of a fast food
restaurant on Eldorado Street.” 4
In case you think that Jesus wasn’t
resurrected and that God is not involved in the
lives of his human creatures, think of the Good
Samaritan at the fast food restaurant.
Every day each one of us has the
opportunity to have “the final word”
about the Resurrection. It comes not just from saying
“alleluia! Christ is risen!”, it comes
from showing that he is
risen by our charity and our compassion to those
in need.
May the next fifty days of Easter
be filled in your life with examples of the Resurrected
Lord at work among his people.
Christ is risen, indeed!
And that’s the last word on
the subject.
The Ven. Theodore W.Bean, Jr.
Provost
_____________________________________
1 Synthesis, March 27, 2005
2 Synthesis, March 25, 2005
3 Quoted in Synthesis, March 27,
2005.
4 Paul Osborne, “Woman Finds Good
Samaritan on Eldorado Street”, Decatur Tribune,
January 27, 2005.
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