What does Easter mean to us today? Does it matter any more? Wouldn’t we all be better off if the holiday fell on the same date every year instead of jumping backwards and forwards through late March and early April depending on the phases of the moon? Who ever looks at the moon these days?
For Christians, Easter Day is the most important day of the year. It is the day of the greatest joy and celebration. But why? How are we to talk about Easter in the first decade of the twenty-first century of the modern era?
We've all heard the traditional language - words like ‘resurrection’ and talk of Jesus’ ‘rising from the dead’. But how can these words come alive for us today? How can Easter make a difference for us?
For me, Easter comes alive in the context of what has gone on before. On Palm Sunday and in Holy Week we remember how Jesus experienced both worldly success and terrible failure. In the end he was confronted by the worst the world could throw at him. And there were no media then, no television to report his trial and execution across the world. No one would march in protest in some far-off foreign capital. No one would know. No one would care. For Jesus, even his faith in God his heavenly Father seemed insecure.
But our Easter faith is that through the power of God’s love, Jesus broke through the barriers of pain, of degradation, of injustice, of death even. And his renewed life - as it was experienced by his friends - affirms our faith that the continuing care of God, which was demonstrated in Jesus, may be powerful in our lives also. This means that we can live our lives and face whatever comes confident of God’s eternal love and care. Now that’s something to celebrate. Alleluia!
John-David Yule