We are in unprecedented times and unchartered territory, as we are impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. We need a miracle.
There is no getting around the Easter miracles if you follow Jesus, but the truth is that the first followers of Jesus were not expecting the resurrection. His remaining disciples and the women who supported his ministry were convinced he had not only died on the cross, but was indeed dead. The brave act of the women was to go to the tomb and try to convince the guards to let them embalm him. To give him a decent burial. They did not expect the resurrection. It was something beyond their imagination.
Despite this once the reality of his resurrection set in, Jesus’ first followers were transformed by their encounters with the Risen Christ. Once fearful, they became courageous; once uncertain, they became confident that Jesus was unique, the saviour of humankind, victorious over sickness, sin, and death. The power of the resurrection to transform the lives of Jesus’ first followers can’t be denied.
But the resurrection was not a return to normal. Jesus was different; he mysteriously appears and disappears. Comes through locked doors, bids them peace, restores the doubting and the denying and finally leaves the business of proclaiming God’s redeeming love to the world to them.
For two thousand years, the amazing power of Jesus’ resurrection has continued to bring healing and wholeness to peoples’ lives. Stones have been rolled away, and way has been made where we perceived no path forward.
We need a miracle and a resurrection, but it will not come from the outside. It will come from the Easter event surfacing in our own lives, shaped the realities of our world.
The story of Easter is hope and renewal, may we remember and know:
God is with us;
God walks with us;
God is one with us, in all the realities of our lives;
in God we unexpectedly find hope into new life and new ways of being.
This is the gospel, and it’s good news.
Brian Spencer. Minister