There is a kind of symbolism in the death of bin Laden. bin Laden was a tyrant. His death penalty was postponed almost ten years. His death was announced on the 22nd hour of the day on May 1st, 2011. Sixty-six years earlier the death of Adolf Hitler was announced on May 1st, 1945. It was also the 22nd hour that newsreaders announced the death of Furher (thanks to George Grant for these parallels).
We are currently in the Easter Season. We have gone through the deathly season of Lent. With great anticipation I awaited the turning of the clock. Easter Day was glorious! We enjoyed a marvelously abundant breakfast with brothers and sisters; we sang songs of joy, and we feasted at the Lord’s Table. But Easter is not just a day! It is a season! N.T. Wright summarized his frustration well when he wrote:
But my biggest problem starts on Easter Monday. I regard it as absurd and unjustifiable that we should spend forty days keeping Lent, pondering what it means, preaching about selfdenial, being at least a little gloomy, and then bringing it all to a peak with Holy Week, which in turn climaxes in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday . . . and then, after a rather odd Holy Saturday, we have a single day of celebration.
The Easter Season needs to be extended. We need more wine and champaigne. We need more Easter eggs. We need more trumpets and psalms. We need to rejoice that Pharaoh and his armies have been hurled into the sea by Yahweh (Ex. 15). We want to instill a Lenten expectation on our children that is not exhausted in one solitary day.
The Easter Season goes all the way until June 12th, when we will be dressed in red for Pentecost Sunday. The joy of Easter leads to the joy of the pouring of the Spirit upon all flesh. Easter means bin Laden and every political leader is doomed unless he bows to the Resurrected Christ.
