Easter Sunday 24.4.11 Holding on to the end
There are many places in the Old Testament where the good are promised that they will be justified in the end; and the evildoers will bite the dust.
Yet we see that good people are not always rescued from death, that bad people are not always immediately punished, that unjust situations and practices can go on for a long time without apparent intervention from Heaven. Can the word of God be false? Never. It is just a matter of time.
Many fictional stories are constructed in a way that has the main characters (goodies) in trouble for most of the time and the baddies are on top, but at the very end of the story it all turns around and the good come out the winners.
One cynic explains this is why it is called ‘fiction’ because it is not the way it happens in real life!
But if we consider the story of Our Lord over these three days, could we imagine a more dismal picture than how things looked late on Friday afternoon - with Our Lord, dead on a cross, deserted by most of His followers. To any onlooker it must have seemed that His cause was finished, His race run.
Yet just 36 hours later He is back alive, and more alive than before (resurrected not just resuscitated). It has to be the greatest comeback story ever.
His story is the prototype for all others, and not just fictional stories either. The same applies to each of our lives as we thread our way through all sorts of difficulties here on earth, a lot of the time seeming to be overwhelmed by troubles – yet we too will see a day of glory, provided we hold on to the end.
Many, sadly, abandon trust in God when they feel deserted. Yet if they had held on they would have come right.
The vindication for us may take longer than 36 hours but it will come, in this life or the next.
Why does God leave us in suffering for such long periods of time? He does not want to see us suffer anymore than we want it.
He asks us to accept a certain amount of suffering for the same reason as He willed His Son to die for the sins of the world. This kind of suffering becomes an act of love; it is a prayer, a fragrant offering to God.
The motive force behind such suffering and such acceptance is the Love of God. When we love enough we are willing to suffer as an expression of that love. The more we love someone the more we would be willing to suffer for that person. Thus Jesus loved a great deal to be able to offer Himself in such an agonizing sacrifice.
We are challenged to enter this same process. If God lets us suffer it is not because He has abandoned us but because He is calling forth more love from us. And this extra love will help to make known the love of God, which in turn will bring a change of heart in those still far from Him.
They will be ‘cut to the heart’ as were those who heard Peter’s sermon at Pentecost.
The Risen Jesus stands before us now, and just as on that first Easter He says to His disciples, Peace be with you.
We can call on Him any day (not just today) and draw reassurance from His powerful presence. He will enable us to do things we could never manage by ourselves alone.
We are heading for a happy ending in our own personal stories. We just have to hold on till the end, and to help us to do that we have the Risen Lord within reach at all times.
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