Death and Resurrection : Readings and Reflections on Easter Day 2014 By Laura Hodges. Reading 1: From The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer i

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1 Death and Resurrection : Readings and Reflections on Easter Day 2014 By Laura Hodges Reading 1: From The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer i Under the names of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, the peoples of Egypt and Western Asia represented the yearly decay and revival of life, especially of vegetable life, which they personified as a god who annually died and rose again from the dead. In name and detail the rites varied from place to place: in substance they were the same. The supposed death and resurrection of this oriental deity, a god of many names but of essentially one nature, is now to be examined. We begin with Tammuz or Adonis. The worship of Adonis was practised by the Semitic peoples of Babylonia and Syria, and the Greeks borrowed it from them as early as the seventh century before Christ. The true name of the deity was Tammuz: the appellation of Adonis is merely the Semitic Adon, lord, a title of honour by which his worshippers addressed him. But the Greeks through a misunderstanding converted the title of honour into a proper name. In the religious literature of Babylonia Tammuz appears as the youthful spouse or lover of Ishtar, the great mother goddess, the embodiment of the reproductive energies of nature. The references to their connection with each other in myth and ritual are both fragmentary and obscure, but we gather from them that every year Tammuz was believed to die, passing away from the cheerful earth to the gloomy subterranean world, and that every year his divine mistress journeyed in quest of him to the land from which there is no returning, to the house of darkness, where dust lies on door and bolt. During her absence the passion of love ceased to operate: men and beasts alike forgot to reproduce their kinds: all life was threatened with extinction. So intimately bound up with the goddess were the sexual functions of the whole animal kingdom that without her presence they could not be discharged. A messenger of the great god Ea was accordingly despatched to rescue the goddess on whom so much depended. The stern queen of the infernal regions, Allatu or Eresh-Kigal by name, reluctantly allowed Ishtar to be sprinkled with the Water of Life and to depart, in company with her lover Tammuz, that the two might return together to the upper world, and that with their return all nature might revive. Laments for the departed Tammuz are contained in several Babylonian hymns, which liken him to plants that quickly fade His death appears to have been annually mourned, to the shrill music of flutes, by men and women about midsummer in the month named after him, the month of Tammuz. The dirges were seemingly chanted over an effigy of the dead god, which was washed with pure water, anointed with oil, and clad in a red robe, while the fumes of incense rose into the air, as if to stir his dormant senses by their pungent fragrance and wake him from the sleep of death. Death and Resurrection: Ancient gods of vegetation It s obvious that the lives of ancient peoples were closely linked to the cycles of nature. Birth and death, growth and decay were for them deeply mysterious, magical events. The myths that they created expressed their attempts to make sense of the world around them. The god Tammuz was worshipped in Babylonia and Syria, Attis in Phrygia, Osiris in Egypt and, as well as Adonis, Dionysus, Persephone and Demeter were popular vegetation gods in Greece. As Fraser says the details of myths that related the dying and rising of the various gods were different in detail. And often there were alternative stories told about individual gods, but in essence these gods were the same. 1

2 We ve heard about the myth of Tammuz, so now I want to briefly talk about some of the rites that were performed in honour of Osiris, whose worship dates back at least 2300 years before the common era. There were four different aspects to the worship of Osiris. He was a god of fertility, a tree-spirit, a corn-god and god of the dead. In his role as a corn-god the blessing of Osiris was sought to secure a good harvest. In November when the seed was planted, a solemn mournful rite was held that was probably originally practised in a simple way by every Egyptian farmer. An effigy of the god, which had been modelled using earth and corn, would be buried in the field. Later, when the effigy was recovered, the body of Osiris would have sprouted corn. This was a magical charm to ensure a good crop. James Frazer comments The corn-god produced the corn from himself: he gave his own body to feed the people: he died that they might live ii. Resurrection came with the corn s growth to maturity, until the spring when it was time for harvest. Although a good harvest might be thought of as something to rejoice about, it was ancient custom to lament over the cutting of the first sheaf. For it was their god s fate to be violently cut down by the sickles of the reapers, then to be crushed on the threshing floor and ground to powder in the mill. At some point these festivals came to be celebrated by priests in temples as well and, instead of just seeing the death and resurrection of their great god as providing their sustenance in this life, the Egyptians also saw the resurrection of Osiris as a promise of eternal life for all people. In tombs mud and grain effigies have been found buried with the departed, no doubt in the belief that Osiris would raise the dead to immortality in the same way that he caused the grain to spring up from the ground. And so with the beliefs and practices of these ancient peoples in mind, let us join together and sing our next hymn, which rejoices in the springtime renewal of life. Reading 2: Colossians 1:13-20 God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. Death and Resurrection: Paul and the Gnostics During the Hellenistic period (which was roughly during the last three hundred years before the common era) the movement of peoples with their different religions and cultures became more common. As merchants, missionaries, slaves and soldiers they travelled far and wide. Initially those who moved into the cities continued with their religions in the traditional way, but in their new urban setting these religions were gradually transformed. In this new context the agricultural element grew less important, although the symbolic significance of the natural processes of growth, death, decay and rebirth continued. As the old vegetation religions evolved, mystery religions came into being which offered a personal re-birth into a new life. Initiation rituals involved a kind of sacramental drama which symbolised a sharing in the death and resurrection of the god and guaranteed other-worldly salvation and enlightenment. The myth now held secret meanings which were revealed to the initiates. The sacramental dramas differed in content but sought to 2

3 produce ecstatic emotions which led to the belief of a new life beginning, of a personal union with the god. This kind of sacramental drama may well have been what the apostle Paul was talking about when, in the letter to the Galatians (3:1), he wrote It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified. Scholars largely agree that Paul s letters were written some time before the gospels were composed. Yet interestingly, in the letters that we have, it appears that Paul knew nothing about the life of a historical earthly Jesus. Some who have studied his writings suggest that Paul s preoccupation is with a Christ who is a heavenly figure; the Son who is both a reflection of God and the agent through whom the heavens and the earth were created. The Jewish God was thought to dwell in the highest heaven and Paul says that his son is a spiritual force who mediates God to believers. He is the one through whom God s salvation plan has been accomplished, through whom the universe has been reconciled to God. It s suggested therefore that the death and resurrection of Paul s Christ occurred in a mythical, heavenly realm where he was crucified by the archons who were also understood to inhabit that realm. The suffering and death that Christ underwent and the benefits that humanity therefore receives are mysteries of God. Mysteries that the believer can enter into through baptism by becoming one with the Christ in his death and resurrection. Prior to the destruction of the temple in the 70 th year of the common era, Judaism could be found in many forms. The early Pauline communities began on the fringes of Judaism as did the Gnostic communities. The origins of Gnosticism are certainly pre-christian and only gradually did Christian forms develop. Although each community, or group of communities, produced their own version of the myth, the figure of the redeemer was important to Gnostic thought. The redeemer originally appeared as anonymous spiritual or legendary Old Testament figures. Later, in Christian Gnosticism we find the redeemer separated into the earthly transitory Jesus of Nazareth and the heavenly and eternal Christ. That there were a number of contradictory myths wouldn t have been a problem for the Gnostic groups if the various communities knew that their stories were myth and not historical fact. These myths expanded upon the central belief that was common to Gnosticism as a whole. This said that in the creation of the cosmos, sparks of divine light had become trapped in some human beings who needed to be awakened to the truth of this presence so that, at the death of the individual, the divine spark could be restored to its place in God. So for Gnostics resurrection was understood in two ways. Firstly resurrection occurred in this life when a Gnostic was brought from the death of forgetfulness and ignorance to a self-knowledge and awareness of the in-dwelling spark of light, through the call of the redeemer. Only then, at the death of the body, could the second resurrection occur when the spark of light was freed to return to God. The person who had no inner knowledge was described as a corpse, as someone who was buried in the body as in a tomb. The soul needed to be woken from the sleep of death so that it could find release after death. The people said to be of this world, were still in ignorance. The people of the resurrection had already experienced release. This has been a very brief look at some of the early myths of death and resurrection that were present in the lands where the communities of the NT lived. Whether or not you accept the idea that Paul wasn t teaching about a historical Jesus, it s clear that there are many parallels in all these belief systems. Reading 3: The Meaning of Myth from Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell iii When the first volume of my Historical Atlas of World Mythology, The Way of the Animal Powers came out, the publishers sent me on a publicity tour. This is the worst kind of all possible tours 3

4 because you move unwillingly to those disc jockeys and newspaper people, themselves unwilling to read the book they are supposed to talk to you about, in order to give it public visibility. The first question I would be asked was always, What is a myth? That is a fine beginning for an intelligent conversation. In one city, however, I walked into a broadcasting station for a live halfhour programme where the interviewer was a young, smart-looking man who immediately warned me, I m tough, I put it right to you. I ve studied law. The red light went on and he began argumentatively, The word myth, means a lie. Myth is a lie. So I replied with my definition of myth. No, myth is not a lie. A whole mythology is an organisation of symbolic images and narratives, metaphorical of the possibilities of human experience and the fulfilment of a given culture at a given time. It s a lie, he countered. It s a metaphor. It s a lie. This went on for about twenty minutes. Around four or five minutes before the end of the programme, I realised that this interviewer did not really know what a metaphor was. I decided to treat him as he was treating me. No, I said, I tell you it s metaphorical. You give me an example of a metaphor. He replied, You give me an example. I resisted, No, I m asking the question this time. I had not taught school for thirty years for nothing. And I want you to give me an example of a metaphor. The interviewer was utterly baffled Finally, with something like a minute and a half to go, he rose to the occasion and said, I ll try. My friend John runs very fast. People say he runs like a deer. There s a metaphor. As the last seconds of the interview ticked off, I replied, That is not the metaphor. The metaphor is: John is a deer. He shot back, That s a lie. And the show ended. What does that incident suggest about our common understanding of metaphor? It made me reflect that half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies. Death and Resurrection: What does the myth mean to us? Metaphors are used in different ways and, if we think about it, we use them all the time. If I tell Steve that he s a melon no one would think that I meant that literally! And we use the idea of death and resurrection metaphorically too. Painful experiences like the break-up of a relationship, being made redundant, chronic ill-health or sudden disability, all these things and many others can feel like we have died in some way. Whilst we are in the darkness of 4

5 these experiences it is hard to see anything positive about them. But sometimes later, perhaps many years later, when we look back we can see the new life that arose out of the ashes. Metaphors help us to say something about our most intense experiences. Most of us are looking for meaning and truth in our lives and metaphors help us connect with our inner life. Joseph Campbell says that myths originate in the imaginations of people who are searching within themselves for truth. The death and resurrection myth portrays a deep inner yearning to be reborn in the same way that nature is. The problem arises when we try to turn myth into historical events. Myths then cease to function. Campbell says.all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is simply trapped by the image out there, so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image. iv One of the Greek words used when speaking about resurrection in the NT, not only means to rise or be raised, but can mean awakening. The purpose of all religions is to awaken us to the mystery within. Through the symbols of our religions, we can be helped to connect with our deepest selves, with other people, and with God, which is a word that itself needs to be understood as a symbol. The faith journey can be described as dying to our flesh in order that we may be born to our spirit. Campbell says, You identify yourself with the consciousness and life of which your body is but a vehicle. You die to the vehicle, and become identified in your consciousness, with that of which the vehicle is the carrier. That he says, is the God. v In our final hymn we sing once more of the eternal life that is displayed to us through the yearly renewal of nature. i The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer, Wordsworth Editions Ltd: 1993 ii Ibid iii Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell, New World Library: 2001 iv The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group: 1989 v Ibid 5