Christ's Resurrection & the Harrowing of Hell

[Note: The icon posted here is Christ's Resurrection, the Harrowing of Hell] 

Last Sunday (Palm Sunday), I visited with some of the people before the worship service.  Being that it was the beginning of Holy Week, one lady I chatted with said she wished that "it" did not have to happen, (meaning Christ's crucifixion, suffering and death). 

Well yes of course.  

But it got me thinking, especially as I have been through my own suffering this past year.  The experience, although I would not have chosen it, has given new depth of meaning in Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection.  And I am still processing this.  Probably will be for quite some time. 

This Holy Week as in all, the many and various Christian denominations have their many traditions.   Many in our modern times will wonder, did it really happen?  Should we interpret the story literally?  Or is it a myth?   Or is it a metaphor?  Or what?  Furthermore many will argue about the theology of substitutionary atonement. 

But what if we looked at Christ's passion and resurrection through our own life events, such as facing or living through a harsh, intense life experience?    
Facing death... or a life threatening illness....  going off to war.... enduring a prison sentence.... dealing with drug addiction or alcoholism.  Loss, grief, financial ruin, the emotional pain of the death or suffering of a loved one... a painful divorce...  

But not just ending here.  But in hope...healing from that illness,  or finally coming home from a long overseas deployment, or finally getting out of prison, or beating drug addiction, healing from loss, grief and so forth... 

That hope is what keeps us going. 

Perhaps that is why the icon Christ's Resurrection, the Harrowing of Hell is so powerful.  In this icon, (also known as The Harrowing of Hades in Orthodox Christianity), the story of the resurrection of Jesus is not just of him physically walking out of the tomb, but of him in white robes standing on the Gates of Hades (or the Doors of Death), which after he went down into the depths of hell, the doors are broken and have fallen in the form of a cross,  illustrating the belief that by his death on the cross, Jesus trampled down death.     
Similar to the Apostle's Creed, "...He descended to the dead.  On the third day he rose again...".  

We have all been there, one way or another.  Going down to the gates of hell is part of life.  Facing death is part of it.   Living life, with all its good and and the tragic, is all part of it.   

In modern day American society, there is tendency to want to just have happy things in life.  Lots of emphasis on the positives, avoid the negatives at all costs.  But as we know, this is not the way it is.  

Yes for most of us, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem does not come  naturally.  Face death?  Endure suffering?  Run the other way!  

For most of us, we get thrown into these events, no choice.  And that is that.

But as Christ faced it, endured it and overcame it...through Christ we are able to face it, have the strength to endure it, and keep the faith...and hope... 

With God, all things are possible.

The incredible Easter message. New life.  Resurrection.  Christ is risen!!
Christ has risen indeed.