Well we have travelled quietly, and perhaps for some of us, not so quietly through Lent and are now on the verge of Easter and it's tale of tragedy and triumph, of melancholia and great rejoicing, of confusion and hope.
The story of Easter challenges us with its brutality, it's inhumanity of man to his fellow man, it's mystery, it's wonder, and in the end it's beauty. It is traumatic journey for us if we engage each of the stages of Easter from Palm Sunday's parade, the Passover meal, the Garden of Gethsemane agony and the terrifying moments that go to make up Good Friday.
If we stop there there seems to be little sense to it all and we too would be excused for taking ourselves into hiding, confused, abandoned and disappointed. Yet the Easter story does not stop there.
The danger is that if we get stuck in the events of Good Friday and the lost day that follows it we will always be slaves to sin. It s not Jesus death alone which fulfills God's plans for the world he loves, and for us, but what happen next.Tony Campolo comments that this was Friday, but they didn't know Sunday's coming! To hear him in person preaching this line is awe inspiring for it cements the wonder of Easter, yes Jesus died, but that's not all, that's not where it finished. On Sunday he rose, came alive visibly for those who were there, but spiritually for all of us who believe in him.
In this resurrection we find hope that allows us to go on when death is all around us, in our own lives and relationships, in our plans and dreams, in our finances and work, in our families and friend. The hope is that through the act of Jesus resurrection we know that this, not matter how bad it may look, is not the end. It is the beginning of something new.
Like Tony Campolo says Sunday's coming and that is hope.
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