That changes everything

The resurrection of Jesus changes everything, and unlike the iPhone it really does change everything: everything, for everyone, for ever, once and for all.



The resurrection means we can know our past dealt with - forgiveness, peace, a new beginning. Our future need no longer be defined by our past, but by the fact that can be children of God.

The resurrection means that we see things in a whole new way. A way that recognises that God's ways are not our ways - who would have thought that death on a cross was anything other than defeat? A way that believes that in all things God is working out his plans - no matter how bad things actually seem to be. A way that recognises that at the darkest moment God not only knows what it's like, but God has promised to be there with us.



The resurrection shows us that Jesus was right when he preached love and forgiveness. On Good Friday the disciples would have been forgiven for thinking that this whole forgiveness/love/way of peace... approach was a waste of time - it had got them nowhere and it had got Jesus killed - they may as well have taken down a few Romans with them at the same time! But Easter reminds us that Jesus knows what he's talking about - when Jesus asks us to forgive our enemies there is no point arguing about how he doesn't know how tough it is, how painful it is. There is no point trying to argue that loving those who hate, turning the other cheek..are all a waste of time and will never work. Jesus knows. He will keep on bringing us back to the cross. Until we get it.

The resurrection - it changes everything

That's my King

Shattered Dreams

A lot can happen in a week. In fact, thinking about it, it has only been 5 days, although it feels like a life time ago now. Just last Sunday we were part of the crowd that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. Who would have imagined that it could have gone so wrong so quickly? We thought then that we were entering the end-game; but we never imagined it was going to end like this. All that talk of the coming of the kingdom of God - we'd been taken in by it all - how could it end like this?

But then, last night, it all went wrong. It all happened so quickly, we had no way of making sense of what was going on. Jesus had said some things about suffering, about going away, about his body being like broken bread, about pouring out his blood – things that we didn’t understand – so we ended up arguing about who was the greatest. And then we’d gone to the garden to pray, but we’d fallen asleep, and then he'd been arrested.

Shattered dreams. The end of Hope. Disappointment. Questions. No answers. Emptiness. Grief. Loss. Confusion.

You see we’d believed that Jesus was the Messiah. The Anointed One. The Special One. The One sent by God to save his people from Rome and from sin. We’d hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

But then we watched as he was arrested. And we’d watched as even his closest friends deserted him and denied even knowing him.

We’d watched the illegal sham trial was acted out and Jesus was found guilty – the weight of an unjust and unfair system bearing down on him. Once again witnessing the system crushing those who dared to stand against it. We’d seen it all before, as Rome crushed every rebellion that dared to stand against it. The authorities called them terrorists. We called them freedom fighters. Men like Simon the Zealot – one of our own. Men like Barabbas – who risked everything in their fight for freedom. But surely never before was there one like Jesus – he never carried a sword, he never spoke of violence – he had told us to love our enemies – he had taught us that we should forgive. So why didn’t he defend himself? Why didn’t he speak up? Why didn’t he argue his case? Surely Pilate could see that there was nothing in this case to warrant the death penalty.

We watched as Jesus was flogged – as the leather and bone ripped into his back.

We watched as the soldiers mocked, as they hit him, as they spat at him, as they put a crown of long sharp thorns on his head.

We watched, moving carefully with the crowd, trying not to draw attention to ourselves, as Jesus struggled to carry the cross beam out of the city, to the place of execution.

We watched as Jesus was nailed to the cross. As he experienced one of the cruelest and most painful methods of execution that the Roman empire could come up with. Of course we’d seen it before. Who hadn’t? Rome made sure that we all knew what happened to enemies of the empire. Any of us who had travelled within the empire had seen crosses along the roadside. The ultimate deterrent.

But this was different, because he was different. His teaching. His authority. The healings. The miracles. Bringing Lazarus back to life after four days. Calming the storm. Blind men that can see. We’d never seen things like this before. What further evidence did we need? Surely this man was the Messiah - wasn't he?

We listened as Jesus was mocked – people taunting him to come down off the cross. And in our hearts we hoped he would. Surely this was not too difficult for the man who had raised the dead. Why didn’t he come down?

And we watched as he died. “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing”. What’s the point of forgiveness? Look where this three year journey has brought us. Whether it is peaceful or violent - rebellion is always crushed. The strong always win. It's always the weak who lose. Power remains with the powerful. So much for the coming Kingdom of God. What do we make now of the claim that ‘Jesus is Lord’? It seems to me as if Caesar has won again.

And as Jesus died, so did our dreams, so did our hopes, so did our ambitions, so did our future. Instead of the victory that we anticipated just five days ago – defeat.

Confused. Scarred. Dejected. Without hope.

Where is God in all this?

God, why have you forsaken us?

How could this happen? Why did this happen?

Today is Friday. The unthinkable has happened. We're struggling to get through the day a minute at a time. There is no thought about tomorrow because we no longer have a future. There is certainly no thought for the day after tomorrow.

Easter Week

Ever wondered what it would have been like to have lived in Jerusalem during that first Easter week - and recieve regular text messages from people you knew who were witnessing the events as they happened? Well, now you can!




To take part you can register at www.thepassionexperience.org.uk

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