Easter And Passover Greetings, 2022
Dear Family And Friends,
For this year’s Easter and Passover Greetings, I would like to quote a passage from poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. The passage is not meant to be represent Christian teaching or even ecclesiastical commentary, but rather a meditation on Jesus Christ.
Leonard Cohen described himself as a “Sabbath observant Jew” who none-the-less had a deep affinity for Christianity and even Zen Buddhism. Referring to Jesus, Cohen once said: “He may be the most beautiful guy who walked the face of this earth. Any guy who says ‘Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the meek’ has got to be a figure of unparalleled generosity and insight and madness … A man who declared himself to stand among the thieves, the prostitutes and the homeless. His position cannot be comprehended. It is an inhuman generosity. A generosity that would overthrow the world if it was embraced because nothing would weather that compassion.”
So, during this Passover and Easter Season, a passage from Cohen’s song, “Suzanne”:
Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him
He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them
But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him, and you want to travel blind
And then you think maybe you’ll trust him
For he’s touched your perfect body with his mind.
So, in this time of Passover and Easter, we would all do to well find our own meditation on the Man from Galilee.