There is an ancient Egyptian myth about the pelican.  Richard Wilbur put this myth to verse in the 1950s.  Writes the poet:

PELLICANUS is the word
For a certain breed of bird
Who truly is a crane;
Egypt is his domain. 

In Greek his title was: Onocrotalos,
Which is longum rostrum, said
In the Latin tongue in stead,
Or long beak in our own.
Of this bird it is known
That when he comes to his young,
They being grown and strong,
And does them kindly things,
And covers them with his wings,
The little birds begin
Fiercely to peck at him;
They tear at him and try
To blind their father’s eye.
He falls upon them then
And slays them with great pain,
Then goes away a spell,
Leaving them where they fell.

(from “Things of this World” by Richard Wilbur, 1956)

Surely it was with pain and sorrow and anguish that Jesus’ mother, Mary, and Jesus’ dear friend Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to anoint his body with oils and spices. 

And then surprise, fear, and joy overtook them as the earth shook and an angel descended and rolled away the stone from the tomb saying, “Do not be afraid.  I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here.  He has been raised and is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.”

The story of Jesus Christ does not end with death!  The story of Jesus Christ ends with life!  Restorative love triumphs!  Jesus lives!  Abundant life prevails!

And so it is for those slain baby pelicans.  Listen to how the ancient Egyptian myth unfolds.

The father pelican who goes away for a spell
Leaving the slain birds where they fell
On the third day he returns,
Feeling so strong a woe
To see the small birds so
That he strikes his breast with his beak
Until the moisture rich shall leak.
And when the coursing blood
Spatters his lifeless brood,
Such virtue does it have
That once again they live.

 (Wilbur, “Things of this World”)

The Good News of Easter is that God pours out grace upon grace, moisture rich with life, so that we, like the pelican chicks, like Jesus himself, might live and have abundant life. 

“How can this be?” our rational minds are quick to ask.  We grope for an explanation of the resurrection.  Maybe Jesus was just in a deep, drugged coma in the tomb and he finally woke up?  Maybe the pelican chicks weren’t really dead after all?  Maybe the women and the disciples got all worked up in their grief and they just fantasized the whole thing? 

William Willimon offers wise words when he writes:

 “You can’t explain a resurrection.
   Resurrection explains us.”

(Pulpit Resource, Vol. 30, No. 1, p. 58)

What a God-cidental week for the Academy to award A Beautiful Mind Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress.  A Beautiful Mind would also receive my vote for this year’s best portrayal of resurrection and restorative love.  A Beautiful Mind follows the life of schizophrenic, math genius John Forbes Nash (powerfully played by Russell Crowe, who deserves his own reword for superlative acting).  The story progresses from Nash’s first days at Princeton in the late 1940s to the global recognition of his achievements at the Nobel Prize awards ceremony in 1994.  His struggle with mental illness, held in tension with his creative genius, which revolutionizes economic theory, is simply awful – full of awe.  But in the end, it is love that triumphs – the enduring, consistent, devoted, long-suffering love of his wife, Alicia (played by Jennifer Connelly).  It is her love that gives him the possibility of resurrection and restored life.  It is she, who herself wounded by his horrific illness and deeds, sprinkles him again and again with “moisture rich with life.”  In my opinion they both deserve to be credited with beautiful minds… and hearts. 

“You can’t explain a resurrection.
  Resurrection explains us.”

Can you picture in your mind’s eye the face of Sarah Hughes when she completed her Long Program of figure skating at this year’s Winter Olympics?  Pure joy shone in Sarah’s eyes.  Her smile was radiant.  It was a resurrection moment for this young woman.  Unexpected.  Unpredicted.  An absolute triumph. 

That must have been the expression on the faces of Mary Magdalene, and Jesus’ mother, Mary, and on the faces of Jesus’ beloved disciples when they saw their Risen Lord.  Pure joy must have shone in their eyes.  Their smiles must have been radiant.  Unexpected!  Unexplainable!  A triumph of God’s love!

In that resurrection moment when Jesus meets his friends and calls out “Greetings,” everything changes.  Nothing can ever be the same.  His friends do not try to explain the resurrection.  But from that moment on, resurrection explains them.  God’s final triumph of restorative love will define them, and like Jesus, they will live life defined by that love.

There is a wonderful story in Rosamund and Benjamin Zander’s book The Art of Possibility that illustrates this defining moment.  It’s called “the practice of giving an A.”  “Each student in this class will get an A for the course,” Benjamin Zander announced on the first day of class to graduate students at the New England Conservatory.  “The only requirement that you must fulfill to earn the grade is to write me a letter, sometime during the next two weeks.  And the letter must be dated next May, and in the letter you are to tell me, in as much detail as you can, the story of what will have happened to you by next May that is in line with this extraordinary grade.”  Zander’s students were given, not an expectation to live up to, but a possibility to live into.  Receiving an A defined and explained them. 

When God’s love triumphed on that first Easter, God gave humankind an A.  And every Easter we are reminded, through the retelling of the resurrection story, that God gives each of us an A, again and again. 

God sprinkles us with moisture rich with life.
God loves us with a love that is enduring, consistent, devoted, and long-suffering.
God surprises us with unexpected, extravagant joy.
God gives us abundant life through restorative love. 

Life is about love… God’s love for us and our love for one another.

As it turns out, the world is about life, not death.

The earth shook.  The stone was rolled away.  Jesus lives.  God gives us all an A.  “Go and live,” God entreats us, “and be my Easter people with resurrection in your eyes, restorative love in your hearts, forgiveness on your lips, healing in your hands.  Go and live, and by living like Jesus you will be saved!”  Ah, let us give thanks to the God who makes resurrection possible for you and for me.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Amen.