Risen!

Now, did He really break the seal
     And rise again? We dare not say;
     But conscious unbelievers feel
     Quite sure of Judgement Day.

    

Meanwhile, a silence on the cross,
     As dead as we shall ever be,
     Speaks of some total gain or loss,
     And you and I are free

 

To guess from the insulted face
Just what Appearances He saves
By suffering in a public place
A death reserved for slaves.

W.H. Auden, Excerpt from Friday’s Child (In memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred at Flossenbürg, April 9, 1945) (1958).

Auden does not claim that we cannot say that Jesus is risen, but suggests that his resurrection is an awe-inspiring event that nearly leaves us without words.

Amen to that.