Finding Real Meaning
As people plan weekends away, or are submerged beneath mountains of chocolate eggs, there is the occasional comment, not always easily discerned, about “the real meaning of Easter”. Some of us will try to make sense of an extraordinary story, which stretches our credulity and yet sparks a sense of…
As people plan weekends away, or are submerged beneath mountains of chocolate eggs, there is the occasional comment, not always easily discerned, about “the real meaning of Easter”.
Some of us will try to make sense of an extraordinary story, which stretches our credulity and yet sparks a sense of hope. The story that Jesus was tortured and executed, and then returned to life, is both wonderful and appears to be impossible. For many, possible or not, it’s an arcane tale of a Jew, extinguished by the Roman Empire two millennia ago, as so many others were.
This story has to make sense now, or it is simply decoration.
We watch mountains of life jackets blot out Greek beaches, as thousands of Syrians flee the twin abominations of Assad and ISIS. We struggle with the emotional trauma of school students, trying to make sense of their sexuality and identity, while politicians clumsily negotiate. We are appalled as women and children flee broken homes and fractured relationships to find safety – anywhere.
At his birth, Jesus was named “Emmanuel, God with us”, and it is never more appropriate than at Easter, when the heart of our story features Jesus, broken and dying, like so many lives before and since.
Easter declares that God is in the midst of things, that when people are pushed to the margins, abused and overlooked, God is there. Jesus is present at the broken places, dying with and for everyone, f
or the ones who are broken by life, and the ones who break them.
The silence of Saturday, as Jesus lies in the tomb, is so often the impotent silence of the world, in the face of so much injustice.
And yet, there is always Sunday, when the impossible becomes real, when God says yes to life. Easter proclaims that God’s love is stronger than death, that violence and injustice shall never be the last word. Our hope stands here, with a God who restores the broken and forgives all in need of forgiveness.
Easter eggs will melt in our hands, but we can discover and articulate our hope in an ancient story which is always about today.