Empty Tomb - Calloused Hearts
A Carnival of Piety
This Easter morning, millions cry out “He is risen” in American churches while mothers in Gaza cry out for children who will never rise. Faith celebrates life even as it acquiesces to death. They rejoice in an empty tomb while ignoring the countless filled graves of the innocent. They praise the Prince of Peace with arms lifted high as warplanes rain fire on Gaza’s schools and homes. Woe to you for you are like whitewashed tombs, gleaming with piety on the outside while filled with bones and the stench of hypocrisy inside. Your hallelujahs ring hollow over the sound of weeping in Gaza.
Who is this Jesus you claim to worship? History and doctrine have shrouded him in ambiguity as a merciful teacher to some and a distant king or warrior to others. Yet no version of him would bless what is happening now. The one who you say said “Blessed are the peacemakers” and “Let the little children come to me” would weep at the sight of lifeless and mangled children piled into dugout graves.
And still some among you revel in this carnage with apocalyptic glee. A den of vipers coils around the altars hissing that this suffering is somehow part of God’s plan. You twist sacred prophecy into a license for war as if the Lamb of God now thirsts for the blood of lambs. Brood of vipers how can you not see that you are cheering what Christ would condemn? Every shell that falls on a neighborhood every child’s life crushed under rubble cries out against this perversion of the gospel.
Meanwhile your religion has become a spectacle. In polished churches and on glowing screens faith is performed and commodified. This morning how many posted selfies in their Easter best with scripted reverence tagging #HeIsRisen while scrolling past photos of dead and grieving children? How many likes did your pious caption earn while the least of these lie in ruins unseen? You tithe mint and dill of social media approval and neglect the weightier matters of mercy and justice.
