Some thoughts after Easter
Apologies for the rough nature of this piece. But I've been told it works better that way.
Some days you wake up and everything seems meaningless. The sky is grey and dank and you just can’t see the point in anything. Sometimes you’ll cheer up. You’ll see a friend or hear a piece of music that you like. Something will brighten your day. Some days however nothing will go right and you’ll end the day just as miserable as when you started it. We’ve all had days like that. We can all relate.
Now picture what it was like for the Disciples that first Easter Day. They woke up to the worst bad day ever. We can’t even imagine how bad they must have felt. We have no frame of reference. A week earlier they witnessed Jesus enter Jerusalem to cheering crowds and it must have seemed as if nothing could go wrong. Three days before they had shared the Passover supper with him.
Then it all came crashing down.
Judas -one of their own - had betrayed Jesus. Betrayed him. And all the others could do was watch as their friend was taken away for mock trial. Peter must have felt doubly bad. When Jesus had needed him most he had denied even knowing him. And not just once. But three times. What must have been going on inside his head? Now their teacher, their friend, their Lord, a man they had loved was dead. Not only was he dead but he had been executed in the most gruesome and degrading way possible.
Yeah. I don’t think we can ever really understand how desolate they must have felt. It kind of puts our own problems into perspective doesn’t it?
Then in a heartbeat, in a moment. Everything changes. The Disciples are together, wondering what to do next, wondering if they’ll be the next to be arrested, when the women who had gone to anoint Jesus body come back and announce. That it’s gone. Peter and the Disciple Jesus Loved, go check and they confirm it. As their standing around scratching their heads, Angels appear who ask a startling question. “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Then finally, just to top it all off, Jesus himself shows up, alive once more. Suddenly everything slots into place. In their grief they had forgotten the most important thing Jesus had told them. He would die and then rise again, three days later.
One terrible day, had somehow become the greatest day in history.
But those events, round about two thousand years ago, are relevant to us, have an impact on our lives right now. Because Jesus, the man who died and in doing so turned death itself on its head, died for you and for me. He died so we could have a full and open relationship with him and his father. If we trust in him, he will be with us no matter how dark the night may seem.
The world doesn’t seem such a scary place now does it?