Astonishment and Awe

Astonishment and Awe

     I love the Easter season:  Spring, renewal, Resurrection, eggs, chocolate, and movies.  Movies?  Yes.  I’ve watched The 10 Commandments since childhood.  My personal favorite is Ben Hur.  More recently, there’s The Passion of the Christ, a difficult viewing experience.  This year, there’s Risen.  I highly recommend it for older teens and adults.  The film tells the fictional account of a Roman soldier tasked with finding Jesus’ “missing body.”  Told like a detective mystery, we follow this disbelieving soldier on his quest to disprove the Resurrection and help to quell the rising religious and political unrest. 

      One of my favorite scenes is when Jesus appears to the Apostles in the upper room.  The reactions on the actors’ faces of astonishment and awe are priceless.  Their faces completely light up, as if lit within.  And remember, they were told he was going to return!   Even though we’re familiar with the story, as one friend said, “when I see something re-enacted in a movie, it reminds me of what it must have been like.”  The power of a well told story, with compelling emotional content, can speak to both our minds and hearts in a fresh way.  I, too, felt along with the Apostles, as I got swept up in what that moment must have felt like. 

     How often do we see someone who’s risen from the dead?  I’m not being funny.  Imagine along with me, for a moment.  I remember how bereft I felt after I lost my mom.  I even had crazy thoughts—can’t she come back and visit me, if only for a moment?  Can she hear me?  Can she see me?  Does she know I’m thinking about her?  Does she think about me?  Such a feeling of loss and loneliness.  Imagine how those Apostles and followers felt.  Even with the assurances of His return, His promises, they were only human.  When they saw him again, perhaps they were shocked, or relieved, full of joy, grateful, and certainly full of astonishment and awe!

     When else do we experience astonishment and awe?  I can think of a few:  the birth of a baby, a stunning sunset, a starry night sky, an Olympic record breaking feat, a human act of courageous compassion.  Look for astonishment and awe all around you.  Recently, we came across a white crane in the desert.  Yes, a white crane in the desert.  Perhaps he was wintering in Arizona, or on his way to his Spring breeding grounds.  We parked our car on the side of the road and watched him in ever, ever, so slow-motion, stalk a lizard on a bush, then quickly made a picnic of it.  It was such an amazing moment!  Be curious.  Observe.  Revel in God’s creations…He can reveal Himself through nature, through people, and yes, through a movie.  Re-experience astonishment and awe in this Easter season, as we celebrate and remember the incredible miracle of His triumph of life over death.