Thoughts On God - Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012

This is the third day on which Christ arose from the dead, ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.

While on earth, He led a group of twelve. He was their Savior, teacher, leader, peer, friend and brother. Had I been there as an observer, I would likely have noticed that the disciples were not in agreement with Christ at all times and that they retained their individual personalities. Even though they all were chosen by Christ, Thomas, for instance, remained a skeptic and John remained Christ's favorite since it was John to whom Christ entrusted His mother before He died on the cross. Despite the differences the disciples had among themselves, together they stayed until Judas Iscariot, the weakest of them succumbed to the power of Satan and left the group during The Last Supper.

They were a family just like any family bound together by a certain love but this love could be different from the love that shares common strands of DNA. [1] The first thing that came to mind was that it was an ideal love, a kind of love that is not exactly immediate or passionate and one that is easy to claim that he/she has it in him/her. However, on second thought, that cannot be right. The disciples' love for Christ was not a distant and idealized love that was low-maintenance; it was an immediate and passionate love that required constant attention which was simultaneously exhausting, frustrating and unrewarding at times, like loving and caring for a relative who is always right.

Thus, for the love for Christ to be real, it has to be as equally passionate, immediate and high-maintenance as the love for someone who is near and dear. In other words, to truly love Christ is not easy. Christ is not someone with Whom we share the same mind (we have more in common with the Devil in that way) just as we do not think like our parents even though we love them to a certain inexplicable degree.


[1] Because I did not come from a family with adopted children and have never been married or partnered, I do not know whether the love between a parent and an adopted child or between spouses or partners is equally as passionate and difficult as the love between a parent and his/her biological child.