Part of the problem to which Christ’s resurrection is the solution

Last updated on: September 5, 2018 at 9:53 am by Dan Peterson

Part of the problem to which Christ’s resurrection is the solution 2018-09-05T09:53:41-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)
For the record: I don’t actually believe that the Garden Tomb is the right place. But it’s familiar, it will serve as a good illustration, and, anyhow, we don’t know exactly where the right place is (though it’s probably within a few hundred yards) and, so far as we know, have no photographs of it.

Our culminating meeting yesterday afternoon, prior to the farewell dinner at a nearby hotel, was at the Garden Tomb, just outside the walls of Old City Jerusalem, in the eastern, Arab, part of the “suburbs.” For my wife and me, this was the third time at the Garden Tomb during the past month.

At the Garden Tomb, death, hereafter, and resurrection are very naturally on a visitor’s mind — and especially so when he or she is (as I am) a believing Christian.

Here’s a melancholy little poem by Theodore Roethke that I first encountered in, of all places, one of the tests I that took for college admission (either the ACT or the SAT; I don’t recall which). It moved me so much that I went home and tracked it down, and I have recalled it ever since. It’s entitled “Elegy for Jane (My student, thrown by a horse)”:

I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for her,
And she balanced in the delight of her thought,

A wren, happy, tail into the wind,
Her song trembling the twigs and small branches.
The shade sang with her;
The leaves, their whispers turned to kissing,
And the mould sang in the bleached valleys under the rose.

Oh, when she was sad, she cast herself down into such a pure depth,
Even a father could not find her:
Scraping her cheek against straw,
Stirring the clearest water.

My sparrow, you are not here,
Waiting like a fern, making a spiney shadow.
The sides of wet stones cannot console me,
Nor the moss, wound with the last light.

If only I could nudge you from this sleep,
My maimed darling, my skittery pigeon.
Over this damp grave I speak the words of my love:
I, with no rights in this matter,
Neither father nor lover.

I actually once visited the place (on Bainbridge Island, Washington) where Roethke suffered a fatal heart attack and died in a swimming pool. It’s now filled in, as a Zen rock garden. The problem of death confronts us all — in this case, both the person mourned and, with time, the mourner himself.

Posted from Lod, Israel

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 25, 2018

A blast from my publishing past

Next Post

May 25, 2018 A few more lines on Lebanon

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the Bible say about "bearing each other's burdens"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Only help yourself Help each other Complain Ignore troubles