by Ken Sehested
Betwixt and between. Jesus’ disciples and followers are bereft and adrift. The world seems to be coming apart.
As are we.
North Korea’s Kim Yong-un, among whose titles is “Fate of the Nation,” has finished his nation’s 15 April “Day of the Sun” founding day parade with its “North Korea First” bluster; and US “Fate of the Nation” Donald Trump—who requested but was denied tanks and missile launchers in his inauguration parade—is ensconced in his luxury resort, 
fresh off his “mother of all bombs” strike in Afghanistan, following our heightened entanglement with the escalated cycle of violence in Syria.
Children everywhere, playing with fire, oblivious to the risks.
As a child, on those few occasions when I watched shoot-em-up TV shows with my grandfather, he would laugh sarcastically at each casualty and say “meat on the table!” I don’t know if he was aware of it, but he gave me my first lessons in mocking the myth of redemptive violence—the myth which turns Easter’s claim into retail opportunity. (Wall Street has already declared this weekend a success.)
But there’s nothing silly about the armada of US warships now prowling the Korean peninsula’s coast. We know for certain (this time) that North Korea has nuclear weapons. But, by God, we got more. Both nations’ leaders are known for their impulsive decisions. Some 75 million are in harm’s way.
Holy Saturday. Betwixt and between, asking “was Jesus on a fool’s errant, or what?” Did Caiaphas and Pilate have a firmer grasp on reality? A clearer vision of the future?
Time will tell. An Easter inferno is not out of the question.
But it will require far more than that, we trust, to keep the tomb’s stone in place and resurrection’s power at bay.
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