By Dr. John Mark Reynolds

Without or without jazz hands, this verbal fanfare was one the first sounds learned by my kids raised in a theater-loving house with a trumpet-playing mother. If Mom could not perform a fanfare at that moment, this exclamation would do. 

Build a fort: “TA-DA!” 

Sing a song: “TA-DA!” 

Defeat a Gorn: “TA-DA!”

The tradition continues with the mighty Whim Wham, granddaughter number one. She has an expressive vocabulary and often speaks in! ALL! CAPS! Cambridge Dictionary says TA-DA is “used when something appears or happens in a way that is impressive, surprising, or pleasing.” 

There should be little shock, then, in finding that when Wham was being taught the Paschal greeting “Christ is Risen!” instead of a “He is risen indeed!” the Wham gave her mother “TA-DA!” 

“TA-DA!” indeed.

I am suggesting no liturgical change and there is richness in the proper response. Christ rose not just in my head as an idea or in my heart as a wish, but actually. The holy body that went into the tomb came out. The nail prints are still there, yet that sacred heart beats for eternity. Death died facing the King of Glory. This is the truth: true truth as factual as any historic event. All doubts will be resolved in His Glorious Second Coming or when in death we see Him face-to-face, the Divine Judge of mankind. 

The trump will resound when His reign is made manifest. Whatever that means, it at least means: “TA-DA!” The child is right: His victory is “impressive.” His resurrection is “surprising.” And by God, this divine act is “pleasing.” 

Too often I lose track of this fact: a great good can hold many lesser goods. Theologians will caution that meeting my grandparents again on the New Earth is not the greatest good of the resurrection, but I am so pleased to think of it that tears come to my eyes as I write. Nana and I can have another of our old-time chats. Granny will make a pie. Papaw Earl will make a wry joke and Papaw Shelby will tell an old family story.

Or something better will be between us. Who cares? We will never part again. 

The end of the pain in my right knee from a college dance injury is even less important to the Paschal event, yet I will be happy to see that nagging ache end. The feast at the wedding beyond the End of Time will be tasty, even less grand than other implications of Easter, but certainly jolly.

Being happy about small things is a great way to learn to joy in grander things: Jesus Christ is Lord of All Joys. A small child begins loving Momma, finds out there is a Daddy, moves on to appreciating a sibling, and finally, by God’s grace, may come to love each person. The image of God in so many souls surely may trigger longing for the end of all desire: the good God. 

This Paschal season the greater goods require firm attention, but Whim Wham reminds me that Pascha is wonderful in so many tiny ways. Lent is done and lentils too. . .for a time. 

Christ is risen!

Christ is risen indeed.

And my heart sings: “TA-DA!”