For anyone who follows the Christian faith, Easter is probably the most important festival of the year, surpassing even Christmas. There has been the 40 or so days of Lent with its invitation to re-focus our commitment to faith, perhaps accompanied by regular fasting or self-denial as a spiritual discipline. Then comes Holy Week, where the scenes of Jesus entering Jerusalem to people’s acclaim, then on to confrontation with the religious authorities and the “Good Friday” crucifixion, are remembered. Then comes the splendour and amazement of Easter Sunday with the celebration of Jesus having risen from the dead. Easter Sunday in church is usually filled with such power and joy – a real cause for celebration.
I guess for many these days the Easter story is largely unknown or a mystery. Gone are the days where school assemblies automatically presented the things of Holy Week and Easter Sunday, such that many young adults are unaware of Easter’s significance. I sometimes find that even within church circles the significance of what happened is not fully understood – people can still live lives that are unchanged even though the story tells it all.
So what is the story? Well, basically Jesus has been on the mission trail for around three years, gathering around him a small band of followers. The three years have seen Jesus heal many people, calm storms, walk on water, cast out demons and see right into people’s lives to reveal the truth of how they’re living. It’s been a real adventure for the followers – they have seen God’s power first hand, and they’re convinced that God’s kingdom is about to be established on earth. However, along the way Jesus has clashed several times with the religious authorities – the people who were very good at maintaining rituals and telling others what to do, but didn’t really do the things of God, like helping the poor and downtrodden.
The arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem brings it all to a head, with the religious authorities apparently winning the day by getting the Romans to crucify Jesus – in their eyes Jesus the troublemaker has been dealt with. What they didn’t expect, having seen Jesus die on the Friday, is that he would suddenly appear again, resurrected from the dead on the Sunday. For the followers of Jesus, Easter Sunday is the turning point – on seeing the risen Jesus they are transformed from a small band of frightened people, into a bold group who are ready to proclaim that Jesus is alive, and would rather die than deny it. Some people today doubt the resurrection. I firmly believe it happened, for nothing short of Jesus being alive could have made such a transformation in those followers lives. It was the beginning of the Church.
There are several things that are significant here. Firstly, with the resurrection, Jesus shows that there is life after death. Most people, when you talk to them today, would want to believe that there is something after death on this earth – a heavenly place of some sort. For those early followers of Jesus he was the living truth – literally – and nothing was going to dissuade them of that fact. Secondly, and this takes some deep theology, because Jesus died on the Cross on the Friday, there is the possibility of every human-being to come into a full, moment by moment, living relationship with God. All that is needed to effect this new relationship is a belief and trust in Jesus – simply a recognition that we’ve ignored God for much of our lives, but now make a decision to turn towards him and find out more.
Down the centuries since that first Easter Sunday, millions of people have accepted God’s Easter invitation and have found that their lives are transformed. Fear of death can be swept away, and as the relationship with God is re-established, lives are rebuilt. That’s the real story of Easter – please forgive us if, as Church, we’ve made it anything less.