Advent Twenty Two

Emptiness by Rene Klotzer 
For sale at Saatchi Art

 Sunday Morning

As Sunday approached, Magda left the house in search of Jesus.  

She wasn't sure what to do, but thought she would try her luck at the mortuary.

When she got there, she found the doors open, and not a soul about.

 

The smell of disinfectant and rancid fat pervaded the gloom.

At last she found the refrigerated store.

Drawers the size of bodies lined the room from floor to ceiling.

On the far side, one drawer had been left open.

It was empty.  She let out a short scream.

There was the certificate of death that had been tied to Jesus’ foot.

 

Magda fled and ran back to find her friends.

She soon bumped into Peter and John who were coming towards her.

"The body’s gone!" she blurted out, as white as a sheet.

In an instant Peter and John took off.

They sprinted past Magda towards the mortuary.

 

John got there first and crashed in through the doors.

He found the empty drawer.

Rifling through emptiness,

Only Jesus' clothing and other bits remained.

"Madga's right, the body has been taken," acknowledged Peter.

"But where?"

It hadn't clicked that Jesus had told them already what to expect.

"No point in staying here."

-------------œ

Empty 

Death and its finality lie heavy on the heart.  It is as if there is a great thought sprawled over your consciousness and everywhere you go or everything you do, it is there.  It’s worse when the death is unexplained, or a terrible, avoidable, injustice.  For Mary Magdalene, at least they knew where the body was.  People talk about ‘closure’ when a body has been recovered.  Something about the ‘relic’ is important in tidying up the mind.  When the body is missing there is panic.  The torture can continue with the further desecration of the body, or it use as an object of ridicule.  Mary and the friends must have felt so helpless.  The authorities were in control and Mary showed great courage attempting to come to the body to mourn at all.  I think that in all funerals it is important to physically feel the pain, the physical pain expressed in our bodies, and to howl and weep.  It is the right thing to do. 

PRAYER  I can look injustice and corruption in the face and know that it is not missed by you.  Though I feel helpless, you have authority over all things.  I feel the pain of a damaged world, as you do.