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Responses to Easter

Matt 28:5-7  “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead.”

It is April and April means Easter.  I happened to look back at that which I had written about this time of the year for the last two years. Two years ago it was a story to touch the emotions; last year it was information to touch the intellect. We can approach the story of Easter on an intellectual level or an emotional level.  However, what I find is that many people ignore the intellectual approach (examining the evidence and coming to a rational and - for many - surprising conclusion)  but they ignore that because they have heard emotional comments and responded emotionally.  Why do we listen to other people’s flippant comments and base our lives on their ignorance or prejudice?

For example, indifference is a surprising emotion I find in many, but that stems from ignorance, or a purposeful disregarding of this most incredible episode of history.  It is actually sad that a number of us thought about such issues in our teenage years  but then covered up such thoughts with ambition or dreams of the future. The wise king Solomon wrote of God, “He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Eccles 3:11) There is that something deep within each one of us which, at certain times of our lives, stirs and challenges us to ask questions. The sad thing is that many ask the questions, and then let affairs of daily life distract us, and we miss out on what could be.  

But Easter and Christmas come round faithfully every year providing opportunities for us to be challenged to think, to search and to find answers again. It is all there in the four Gospels in the New Testament of the Bible and the claims are so outlandish and so unique that they could not have been dreamed up. Put in it’s simplest form, the story of Easter is as follows: Jesus Christ, the miracle working healer and teacher of Galilee was arrested in Jerusalem just before Passover, given a midnight illegal trial and taken and crucified the next day (Good Friday) and clearly died. He was buried but on Sunday he was out and about doing the things dead men don’t do.

The testimonies of the New Testament are many and varied but they all say the same thing - he rose from the dead. He was definitely dead and now he is definitely alive.  The uncomfortable thing is that that was exactly what he told his followers, a number of times, he would do. The authorities took all the steps they could to make sure that such a thing could not happen and that such a story could not be told, but it is difficult to hold down the truth. The result?  For two thousand years people have been reading it and hearing it and believing it and having their lives changed.

The accounts of Easter reveal the potential for human beings to do terrible things. Involved in bringing about his death were injustice, betrayal, denial, hatred, jealousy, envy, callousness, guilt, shame and so much more. It was not one of mankind’s most glorious moments! Reading the New Testament - and you don’t need to read between the lines - Jesus’ death and resurrection was part of God’s plan from before the Big Bang.  God knew that with circumstances and people being what they were, they would do what they did. As the apostle Peter preached fifty days later on the Day of Pentecost, “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.  But God raised him from the dead.” (Acts 2:22-24).  

Look, says Peter, it was quite obvious the sort of man Jesus was, you only had to look at what he said and did. Yes, it was God’s overall plan for this to happen but it was you and your bad thoughts and attitudes that did it, you’re the ones who killed him. The only thing, of course, is that he is God and you can’t keep God down!  Now just supposing this is true and just supposing that the reason the New Testament gives for Jesus’ death - that he was dying to take the punishment due to you and me for all our wrong thoughts, words or deeds - just supposing this is all true, what sort of emotional response should that create in us do you think?

Well complacency is another emotion or perhaps attitude that we can have, that I’m all right thank you, and if we have that we may not realise our state before God - guilty and in trouble! Natural justice demands that wrongs be punished, but when it comes to us, we make excuses and hope that it doesn’t. We know that we fall short of what we could be, but with blind faith we just hope it will be all right. We are hypocrites in reality. The word ‘hypocrite’ originated with play actors, who wore masks, pretending to be something other than they were.  We put on masks and pretend we’re all right, but deep down we know the truth. We try and ignore it but it is still there. Easter is God’s answer to our guilt - not to emphasise it but to make a way whereby it can be removed. We believe in justice on one hand, but not when it comes to us.

Is God trying to make us religious? No, He’s trying to make us real. There was nothing religious about Easter except it was brought about by some very religious but nasty people. We’ve made it religious but it isn’t about rituals, it’s about reality. It’s about what God has done in time-space history to make it possible for us to be OK with Him, so that we can enjoy Him and receive all of the goodness He has in store for us if only we’ll receive it from Him. There it is, Easter is grounded in facts that are there to be found, but facts have to receive a response. Indifference, complacency, or joy? We reveal a great deal about ourselves in the way we respond to Easter. Don’t card card or chocolate egg manufacturers cover up the real Easter. An Easter card or egg is like a ticket to a fairground, temporary and soon forgotten. Responding positively to the good news of Easter is like receiving a passport to eternity, and it can start today.