Dry Bones

The fuss made over the alleged bones of Richard III took a new twist this week when prayers were said for the repose of his soul.  I certainly could not have said them

a) because of my Protestant theology

b) because I would not know what to say

c) I would have burst into a ceremonially destructive giggling fit in the middle of them.

I am not convinced that God is a Protestant as such, he always knows what to say but I think He might share with me (c) a fit of giggles  - always assuming he isn't offended by English ecclesiastical eccentricity.

OK, we all know that this is a City publicity stunt and one can only admire Leicester for managing to get so many of us to take the whole thing at all seriously.  I imagine the city fathers (sorry, parents) of Derby digging furiously under car parks to unearth some bones that can also put their neglected city and cathedral on the map.

But why the Church has to stick its mitre in is a matter of reflection.  Is this a reminder that although the Church is becoming less relevant by the day in this century it was really important 500 years ago?  That'll achieve what exactly?  Or is it a sign that as so many churches are surrounded by dry bones in the graveyard, dry bones are a Church specialty in a crowded marketplace where many other niches have gone secular?

I can't help noticing two things.

1.  As Crossrail digs its underground way through the old plague pits of London nobody is queuing up for the sight of the bones of the ordinary people, nor clergy praying for the repose of their long-gone souls.

2.  Dry bones in the Bible only have any meaning at all when, as Ezekiel saw it, they live.  It is hard to equate the ceremonies with the same set of beliefs really.  Whatever did those hundreds of worshippers grasp about life and living faith?

The King of Leicester Cathedral

When Jesus was crucified, Pilate irritated the local leaders by designating him their king –Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews read the sign above his dying body.

It is the nature of the history of kingship that one was usually either crowned with glory or defeated in ignominy.  Jesus was one of countless kings to suffer shame and mockery in his demise.  The fate of some was gruesome even compared to crucifixion.

Whereas the normal dead disappear with the grandchildren’s memories, kings linger on in the history books, their reputation being sullied or restored by succeeding generations of commentators and changing fashions.

 

Richard III of England will make his incongruous way to Leicester Cathedral for a royal interment sometime this year.

So, since his bones were unearthed from a municipal car park in Leicester his reputation, concerning which history had been unkind, has been undergoing restoration by Leicester City Council (no tourist wants to visit the remains of a failed King).

21^st century computer technology was amazingly able to reconstruct his facial features from the mere bones.   Dr Ashdown-Hill was very excited, "I had said previously that when I stood by the grave in Leicester that I felt closer to Richard III than I had ever been, but when I saw the facial reconstruction I realised I had been close to a dead Richard III. It was just bones, just a body, whereas confronting a facial reconstruction, I felt almost in the presence of a living Richard III."

Now that’s what I call an Easter experience!

No, wait a minute. Felt almost is not the same thing at all. 

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus confessed to their travelling companion that they had felt almost that Jesus of Nazareth had been their Messiah.  Then their hearts burned within them as their companion explained that his shame-filled death was the whole point.  The king of a defeated race must share, indeed front, their defeatedness.  At the cross the human race was invited to see its defeat in its true King.

Then, at Emmaus, their companion shared the bread at the table with them – and they recognised him!  It was not feeling almost that an animation had reconstructed him.  The Jerusalem City Council’s attempt to keep him buried had failed!  Jesus was there!  He was risen! He is risen! He is here!  For our King is also Heaven’s King – and cannot end defeated!

Happy Easter!