The Wardman Wire

Hmm, what to post on: the embryo research bill, celebrity trial outcomes: Jesus vs Heather Mills, the trials of being an England cricket fan …

Despite the trend for calling this the ‘Bank Holiday Weekend’, it’s Easter. You know, that whole Jesus coming back from the dead thing. The inevitable seasonal survey this week found that over half of Britons believe Jesus rose from the dead, though about half of these believed that Jesus rose ’spiritually’. Whatever that means.

As soon as we try to analyse or describe Easter, it suddenly loses most of its impact. The Beeb’s ‘The Passion‘ is doing a pretty decent job, and it does the job by just telling the story.

So here are some extracts from a couple of well known stories for Easter Saturday. The longer one first

“He is dead” Narcissa Malfoy called to the watchers. And now they shouted, now they yelled in triumph and stamped their feet, and through his eyelids Harry saw bursts of red and silver light shoot into the air in celebration

“You see?” screeched Voldemort over the tumult. “Harry Potter is dead by my hand, and no man alive can threaten me now! Watch! Crucio!”

Harry was thrown once, twice, three times into the air.. and when he fell to the ground for the last time the clearing echoed with jeers and shrieks of laughter….

… “Protego!” roared Harry, and the Shield Charm expanded in the middle of the hall, and Voldemort stared around for the source as Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak at last.

The yell of shock, the cheers, the screams on every side of “Harry!” “HE’S ALIVE!” were stifled at once… Voldemort and Harry began, at the same moment, to circle each other.

“I don’t want anyone else to help,” Harry said loudly “It’s got to be like this, it’s got to be me…“You won’t be killing anyone else tonight,” said Harry as they circled and stared into each others eyes, green into red. ‘You won’t be able to kill any of them, ever again. Don’t you get it? I was ready to die to stop you hurting these people… they’re protected from you. Haven’t you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can’t torture them. You can’t touch them. You don’t learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?”

… an edge of the dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemorts was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Dracos wand:

‘Avada Kedavra’
‘Expelliamus’

The bang was like a cannon-blast and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry… saw the Elder Wand fly high.. spinning through the air towards the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last.

And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backwards, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upwards… Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy’s shell.

(JK Rowling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 36 ‘The Flaw in the Plan’)

and the shorter one

“God made you alive with Christ… and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

(St. Pauls Letter to the Colossians, chapter 2 verse 13, 15)

Any similarity to persons living, dead, or resurrected, is…. well you’ll have to ask JK Rowling that one.

Have a happy Easter. As they say where I come from: Christ is risen!

David Keen blogs at St. Aidan to Abbey Manor.

Tags: easter story, david keen, touching base