Michelangelo’s Pietà, photo by Erik Törner/Flickr

Today is the first day of Easter. Easter is a 50-day season. Today is also the last day of Passover. Passover is a seven-day observance. Today is the beginning of one, the end of the other. A rare convergence for two “movable feasts.”

(Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. April 4 this year. Passover always begins on the first full moon after the vernal equinox. March 27 this year.)

Both holidays commemorate deliverance.

Passover celebrates the deliverance of the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt. Easter celebrates the deliverance of Jesus from death, a crucifixion by the Roman Empire.

Both celebrations claim a historical, factual origin.

Moses parted the Red Sea. The Israelites crossed over safely. Pharaoh’s pursuing army drowned.

Jesus was buried. A massive stone covered the mouth of his tomb. Three days later he arose, fully alive, nail marks on his hands and feet.

Many people believe that’s exactly what happened—in both cases.

I don’t.

I can’t.

I believe in natural law. Seas don’t part with a wave of a hand. Dead bodies don’t rise up.

And yet they do.

My head doesn’t get it. But my heart does.

O Mary don’t you weep, don’t you mourn. Pharaoh’s army got drowned. O Mary don’t you weep.

Emmet Till is dead.

George Floyd is dead.

O Mary don’t you weep, don’t you mourn.

Breonna Taylor is dead.

Soon Chung Park is dead.

O Mary don’t you weep, don’t you mourn.

Martin Luther King is dead.

Gandhi is dead.

Anne Frank is dead.

Michael Collins is dead

John Brown is dead.

Sarah Good is dead.

Joan of Arc is dead.

Jesus is dead.

Moses is dead.

Hate, bigotry, and fear are not.

O Mary don’t you weep, don’t you mourn. Pharaoh’s army got drowned. O Mary don’t you weep.

I don’t believe in miracles. I believe in hope.

I believe you can take a sad song and make it better.

I believe you can take a tragedy and weave a tapestry.

I believe you can take a fallen tree and make a table.

I believe you can take a broken nation and mend it.

O Mary don’t you weep, don’t you mourn. Pharaoh’s army got drowned. O Mary don’t you weep.

I believe in hope.

I believe in good work.

And music that revives the dead.