Like a bee trapped behind glass

Published: Tue, 04/14/20

I seem to have some sort of routine developing. Train first thing in the morning. Then write and maybe have a Zoom meeting. In the afternoon give Venetia a break from parenting by taking Iduna for about an hour long walk in her pram. She falls asleep almost at the beginning of the walk and may carry on slumbering for up to another hour after we get back. I take that opportunity to stop at the church, park a sleeping baby in the porch and sit inside for a while. On Saturday morning I had decided that I was going to get some answers and I was willing to sit quietly and see what came to me. It didn’t quite work out because a large bumble bee was making strenuous and noisy efforts to escape by flying against the windows and ignoring a now open door. So, no chance of some silent contemplation while listening for that still small voice of divine wisdom. So, I went and borrowed a net and set the creature free.

Just a co-incidence? Or the basis for a really corny sermon illustration? Well, it was my bee so I will make of it what I will. As I watched the insect struggling against the glass and tried to work out the best way to set it free I could not help seeing myself struggling to make sense of a world that seems to have gone mad. The door was open to fly straight out of. I was willing to help if the bee would just let me. In the end I had to catch the creature in a net and fling it out of the door so that it could fly off in the sunshine and go about its business once again. I don’t know how the bee got into the church or why it had decided to come in, but there it was and it would probably be dead by now if I had not released it. Of course the bee thought it could see the way out which was why it was frantically flying against the glass. It took some catching as the net must have looked pretty threatening.

Two days ago it was Easter Sunday, a celebration of resurrection and a triumph over death. Some people will also make jokes about Christians believing in a ‘Zombie Jesus’ which is a poke at the way the resurrection is sometimes portrayed. The gospels themselves are actually more nuanced in their account of the resurrection.

The reality is that the passion narrative (the story of how Jesus comes to Jerusalem at Passover, is arrested, tried, executed, buried, and leaves an empty tomb) is a horrifically tragic story. However you see the person of Jesus he dies a horrific death for no good reason and he is dead and buried. The resurrection story does not claim that Jesus comes back to life in the sense that Jesus just resumed his human life as if nothing had happened. In most of the reported appearances the person meeting the risen Jesus to did not recognise who they were seeing. In the first appearance to Mary Magdalene it was not until the figure she had taken be be a gardener had spoken her name that she realised who it was. (John 20 v 15). The two unnamed disciples who met a mysterious person on the road to Emmaus did not realise who it was until he broke bread with them at supper. (Luke 24 v 30 and 31). A little later the risen Jesus tells the
disciples what he expects of them, it Peter’s case it is a specific instruction to feed and care for his sheep by continuing the work Jesus had been doing, but now needed to pass on to his disciples. (John 21 v 15 to 17). In the book of Acts we are told that the disciples received the gift of the holy spirit which enabled them to create the church which has existed ever since.

The Easter story is the tale of a wandering preacher who got on the wrong side of the authorities and was crucified. How many ‘trouble makers’ did the Romans kill in order to maintain law and order within the empire? No one can put a figure on it but enough to make one more crucifixion in first century Palestine pretty unremarkable. The gospels suggest that the governor Pilate was unsure that he was doing the right thing in condemning Jesus. (John 19 v 6) However, unlike John the Baptist, we have no Roman records of the life or death of Jesus from the time. In a broader historical sense the Crucifixion of Jesus wasn’t even a historical footnote. Yet, as an inciting incident in the story of Western civilisation, the crucifixion, and the experiences which followed it, is literally world changing.

I have been struggling to make sense of a lot of things recently. What I am thinking is that stuff happens and people make things happen that are really not okay. Crucifying Jesus Christ as a trouble maker. Declaring a world war, as happened twice in the last century. Controlling a pandemic which apparently justifies so much social, political and economic chaos. In each case there is great suffering and disruption and afterwards nothing is the same again. Living through existential crises is immensely challenging. Do we respond like the bumble bee against the church window, buzzing helplessly until the effort destroys us? Or do we become artists who allow the crisis to inspire us? If so inspired can we create a work of art which transcends the crisis and may even amaze future generations?

The murder of Jesus of Nazareth was a despicable crime and yet 2000 years later I can consider Beverley Minster as just one example of a response to a death on a cross in Roman occupied Palestine.

World war two was an orgy of death and destruction and the actions of Bomber command against civilian targets were crimes against humanity. Then in May 1943 there was the operation popularly known as the Dam Dusters Raid which breached dams deep inside Germany. As a demonstration of technical ingenuity, leadership and dedicated skill and courage it was one of the most extraordinary operations of the war. Did that make everything else that happened between 1939 and 1945 okay? No, but as a piece of performance art it was pretty awesome and it will be talked about for generations to come.

The current situation we find ourselves in? History will judge if the response to the virus was appropriate, but in a sense it doesn’t matter. It is an existential crisis and such crises inspire the artist to imagine and create things that would never have been expressed otherwise.

Do works of art justify suffering? Don’t ask me I am just a bumble bee who is looking for a way out.

regards

Graham