”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
Even if your knowledge of Charles Dickens stops at the Muppets’ Christmas Carol (one of my favorites, I confess) you might also have heard that quote. It’s the opening words of a Tale of Two Cities (the cities being Paris and London). The story is set at the time of the French Revolution, which was already history for Dickens. But as with all great artists he can create something universal out of a particular story. He makes the point directly that he was talking about his own time.
This conflict in our understanding of the time we live in does indeed seem universal. Once again, it feels very relevant now. It seems we are on the edge of exiting a terrible pandemic. At least for those of us fortunate enough to have already been vaccinated our lives are opening up again. But we also know, although it’s hard to fully comprehend, the number of deaths we leave behind – getting towards 3 million worldwide. We also have to recognize that mass shootings in the US and murders and terrible abuses everywhere haven’t stopped.
Our schizophrenic feast of Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday is a clear recognition of this confusing reality. We move from a triumphant entry into Jerusalem to an agonizing death in the course of one short service.
We so want life to be clearly divided between good and bad. In the time of Saint Augustine there was a very popular philosophy called Manichaeism, which Augustine himself followed for a while. No one now is likely to call themselves a follower of Mani – but his ideas still permeate our thinking and are found in just about every action movie, superhero movie, and many others. The world consists of a force for good and a force for evil, and they are in perpetual conflict.
How can it be the best of times and the worst of times all at the same time? This is clearly nonsense, an absurd contradiction. But equally clearly it is the world we live in. As Augustine came to recognize, the answer provided by Mani is not really an answer. The answer provided by Jesus is that there is only one power in the world, the power of the one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a power based solely on love.
In this world there is life and death, there is hope and despair, crucifixion and resurrection. It can be, and in fact always is the best of times and the worst of times. We aren’t offered an escape to a fantasy world where good and evil are neatly separated out, where there are good guys and bad guys (and in the end we will know who is which). No, Jesus lived in the real world, a world full of complexity and confusion. He didn’t come to take us out of that world. Despite much poor theology that is not what resurrection means – escaping to somewhere else. Resurrection is understanding that this world is full of the power of God, of the Father’s love, despite the fact that we may often fail to see that, that we may be unable to see it even when we try really hard.
As we complete our journey, once again, to Easter, in the best of times and the worst of times, we remind ourselves that we are a resurrected people. We believe that the power and the love of the Father underpins everything, even if we can’t understand how. We believe that because Jesus died and rose from the dead.