Easter Sunday 8.4.12 Good News
Resurrection is the ultimate good news. Christ is risen and we can rise with Him.
When you consider what life is like; we are so accustomed to suffering, disappointment, shattered dreams, bombarded with bad news... we can be so battered and bruised by all this that we can cease to hope for anything better - either in this life or the next.
And many people do not believe there is anything better because they have allowed the negative experiences of this world to damage their faith, or prevent them from having faith.
So any good news is welcome. In this case the news is so good that it may seem unbelievable... Death is not the last word, there is something better. Life not only goes on after death but it is much better – no more suffering, no more pain, no more death. This is more good than we would expect, or dare to hope for.
We would have called it good news if our troubles were slightly reduced, say if life expectancy could be increased through better medicine - but we are going much further than that.
‘At rest, no more pain.’ – the death notices say. We might settle for that. Just being unconscious. But we can have far better and we should look for it.
We have been so crushed that we do not expect all this. We have become cynical.
This day calls us to a more childlike simplicity, free of the encrustation of years, that the ending is happy after all.
All of this stems from the one simple historical fact that Christ is Risen, and we are involved in that.
He rose: how does that affect me? We unite with Him through faith and baptism, receiving Him in Holy Communion. Through that union we rise in Him and with Him.
He dwells in us and puts His life in us, resurrected life, already working in us.
Is it too good to be true? Things can be true even if we don't understand them fully.
How do we know it is true? How can you believe anything anyone tells you in a world where people tell lies regularly, and even when they think they are telling the truth they might still be wrong?
The credibility of the Christian gospel comes from the witnesses who saw Christ risen and who testified to what they saw. They were prepared to die for it; also to live for it.
This one truth has come down through the ages despite so much pressure and so many attempts to suppress it. Like a candle that has kept alight in a strong wind. A miracle in itself.
We have much evidence through the last 2000 years of the truth of this belief. The miracles worked by saints; miracles even in our own lives (if we are alert to see them).
But also, and more important, simple charity and goodness. There has been enough good to keep our hope alive.
We can contribute a little more good ourselves and come to experience first-hand the joy and peace that are found in heaven.
We have this already insofar as we live in a Christlike way. His life is in us if we let it take effect.
The more we believe it the more true it becomes! If we believe it we will act on it, and in acting on it we will experience ‘resurrection’ in terms of having a happier life and more hope.
May the Lord heal us of any discouragement and disenchantment we may have picked up along the way. And plant in us such a faith that we will never doubt Him again, claiming more of that eternal life even before death, and lots more after that.
No comments:
Post a Comment