Dead People Should Be Dead (Bright Year: Day 5)

Do we wish Jesus dead still? I wonder. The nice thing about people staying dead is that there is a predictable course. Go to the gravesite, weep, bring memorial gifts. It’s not enjoyable having to grieve, but at least it’s a known ritual.

The resurrection messes all this up. Mark’s gospel ends with three women devotees going to Jesus’ grave on Sunday morning. They’re there to perform the usual rites. But they find the stone rolled away and an angel hanging out to greet them. “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8, NRS).

Terror and amazement may strike you as funny emotions, but they sound entirely right given the circumstances. These disciples of Jesus were wholly disoriented. Their script got torn up.

Easter should leave us with a little panic. Can’t we just say the Romans moved His body? Nope. Can’t we just say that His soul went to heaven, may-He-rest-in-peace? No. Can’t we continue to mourn Jesus’s memory in our usual, devoted way? Absolutely not. Our script is shot. We have to reckon with a body back from the dead.

One of my all-time favorite scenes from primetime TV comes from Scrubs, in which J.D., a new doctor, is trying to escape Sacred Heart hospital without anybody intercepting him and getting him to do more work. He resorts to hiding in a body bag, and Doug, the incompetent coroner, unknowingly takes him into the elevator. When J.D. says something from inside the body bag, Doug screams, grabs the fire extinguisher and begins whacking the bag. J.D. unzips and yells, “DOUG, WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME?” “Because I thought you were a dead guy coming back to life.” Which prompts J.D. to ask, “THEN WHY WERE YOU HITTING ME?” Doug says, “Because dead people should be dead.”

Dead people should be dead. That’s a fitting admission of our stubbornness.

I wonder if Jesus arose and found the whole situation hilarious. It was a glorious Easter morning, and people were running around Jerusalem thinking that dead people should be dead.

Bright Year is a series exploring how the good news of Jesus’ resurrection shines over every day of the year. Read the series introduction for more.