Easter is the great turnaround. In fact, it’s the greatest turnaround the world has ever known, as we move from death to life, despair to joy, defeat to victory. Jesus died in agony on the cross on Good Friday, but was raised to new life – resurrection life – on Easter Day.
And the central message of the Christian faith is that Jesus is so full of life, and so full of love, that he pours out that new life – that victory over death – into the world even today, and that all who look to him will find themselves restored, resurrected, raised with him to the joy and renewed life that we see all around us at this time of year, with spring flowers in gardens, buds and blossom on the trees, and new-born lambs gambolling out in the fields.
That’s a great message! And it’s a joyous message that the church proclaims, especially at Easter-time. But it’s not an escapist message: It’s not a message that if we look to Jesus, all our problems, and difficulties, and struggles in life will somehow miraculously disappear, that they’ll suddenly be taken care of! No: We know that the pain, grief and suffering in the world is far too real and far too persistent for that to be the case, whether that’s the reality of wars and suffering in so much of the world, or, closer to home, pain and difficulties in our lives.
Rather, the Christian message is a deeply realistic message: that we can look to Jesus, the one who most fully faced up to and embraced and took upon himself all of that pain, and hurt, and grief, and suffering. He took it on himself when he was abandoned by his friends. He took it on himself when he was tried by a prejudiced court, and when he was mocked, tortured and beaten. He took it upon himself as he allowed himself to be led out to be crucified – the most barbaric and cruel form of execution ever devised by humanity. And, above all, he took it on himself as he gave up his life and died, cut off from the love of God, his Father, the one with whom he had been perfectly united since before the creation of the world.
In Jesus, we can bring the fulness of all the difficulties and struggles and confusions and hurts that we may be going through in life, or that are affecting those who we love and those who we pray for. We can bring them to Jesus, the one who faced the reality of sin and death head on, and who, after he had died on Good Friday, was laid dead and beyond hope in the tomb.
And yet Jesus was so full of life that not even death itself could keep a hold of him! He was raised to resurrection life on Easter Day, and he now pours out that life, that love, joy and hope, on all who look to him. Indeed, in John’s Gospel, Jesus said that the very reason why he had come was so that he might give people: “life, and life in all abundance – life over-flowing”.
And so, may I wish you a truly Happy Easter, whatever difficulties or sorrows you might be facing this Easter-time: May I encourage you to bring them with all openness and honesty to Jesus, the one who died on the cross and who was raised again to life. And as you do so, may you, too, know the life and the joy of Jesus’ victory in your life, and in the lives of those who you love and pray for, this Easter-time.
Rt Revd Gavin Collins
Bishop of Dorchester
