Life is full of surprises and indeed it is. It was just not so long ago that we were thinking about all the things that had happened in the first ten years of Dennistoun New as a congregation, and then out of the blue comes the announcement of a General Election for the UK Parliament.
One of the great surprises for the first Christian disciples was the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus was an astonishing event which changed the lives of those first disciples and transformed their whole reason for being. They would eventually lay down their tools, stop doing their day jobs and live solely for Jesus. Jesus took over their whole lives.
Some people find it difficult to believe in the resurrection of Jesus but I reckon that the impact that motley crew of first disciples had on the world is evidence that something momentous, miraculous and utterly different happened to those disciples.
Those first disciples didn’t go forward with their own energy, their own inspiration and their own insight. My goodness, they went out to the world with such vigour and conviction that something must have happened! They had a message that said Jesus died on the cross and on the third day rose from the dead. Astonishing, amazing and such was their belief in this message that since then countless millions have gone on to take up that same message.
Perhaps we don’t seem to share the same enthusiasm, perhaps because we are very familiar with it, it’s a part of us and we don’t get so enthused or excited by it, we take it for granted, go through the motions and can get stuck in a rut. However, I’m sure you will agree that in this life of surprises we can be awakened out of our rut when a beam of light shines through. That beam of light may be a chance encounter with someone whom you haven’t seen in a long while. Such encounters can stimulate us when we reminisce and recall good times, times of laughter and fun. Or, a beam of light might be someone thanking you for a good turn you did which meant a million dollars to him/her.
Easter is a great beam of light to us that enlightens us to that repeated mantra that death does not have the final say, that in the end evil and injustice don’t have the upper hand.
It is true, God in Jesus is an unstoppable force, he is light and love and goodness. He is always here for us and at the end, he is there for us too because it is not the end but a new beginning. The future may often be an unknown to us, an uncertainty, yet in the future there is always a certainty; the resurrection tells us that the Risen Lord Jesus Christ will always be there for us, this by now should be no surprise, it should be for us a great delight to know that the one who bears the wounds of love is here and will be there, is everywhere. Hallelujah!
Christ is Risen, he is Risen indeed!