Reclaiming Easter

Unless you lived through World War Two, we have never known an Easter like this one, with the globe in lock down and fear of death stalking the earth in the form of the Covid-19 virus.

Many of us have friends and family seriously ill and some of us are grieving having lost loved ones over the past few weeks. My heart goes out to all who are experiencing loss and deep sadness and I pray that you will find the Father’s comfort at this time. Like Jesus’ friends, followers and family as they watched his tortuous death, hearts are breaking and our hopes and dreams can feel like a distant memory.

For many people across the globe, both those who are Christians and those who are not, it can feel like we are living in the shadow of that first Good Friday, hopes extinguished, fear scoffing and death seemingly victorious.

On that first Good Friday, it must have seemed like the world stood still, that the powers of darkness had snuffed out the Light of the World – that God himself had been defeated! The tangible pain and fear felt by those who had put so much faith and hope in Jesus, only to see him gasping for air as he slowly suffocated; such was the torment of the cross. Then his final cry: “IT IS FINISHED!”

But out of seeming defeat, came the greatest of victories. Indeed it was finished: COMPLETED! Everything Jesus came to do, He had achieved. The curtain separating us from God torn in two from top to bottom, we were able, once again, to be friends with God, the price of our sin, paid in His body, our debt, nailed to His cross, His righteousness, now ours. COMPLETED!!

Then on the third day, a physical resurrection, Jesus came back to life, His body breathed again, He left the tomb and death behind…a demonstration of the victory over death He achieved on the cross, that means though we die we can indeed live again, as Roman’s 6:5 puts it:

“Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised  to life as He was” (NLT)

As I write this, I recall that a few days ago, the Government in the UK were predicting the peak of Covid-19 deaths would be Easter Sunday. I felt indignant, a day associated with the greatest victory in the history of mankind, a day when the powers of darkness and death were disarmed and totally defeated, a day when LIFE WON as Jesus Christ rose from the dead, should be associated this year with death.

So as I close, my simple appeal to us all as a Black Country Church Family this Easter, is to claim back this Sunday – Easter Day – as a day of victory. A day when we celebrate life’s victory over death, faith’s triumph over fear. That we would remember, as we consider the empty tomb, that light always overcomes darkness. So let’s join Christians across the globe this Easter and be truly thankful that, however the world appears right now, death has been defeated, its sting drawn out. That while we might be in the strangest Easter most of us have ever known, the result was settled 2000 years ago…and Jesus won!

 

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