Rectory Ramblings… March 2024
Wednesday, 20 March 2024 19:00
Jesus said “It is finished”. Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30)
A few years ago I began my Easter day sermon in the family worship service with a broad grin and a loud greeting “HAPPY CHRISTMAS”, a short pause for dramatic effect, and then the side comment, “No I haven’t gone mad”. The normally very quiet 8 year old girl in the front pew looked me squarely in the eye and at a volume to match my opening replied “YES YOU HAVE”!
It is just 3 months since we were surrounded by tinsel and turkey, unwrapping presents and celebrating the birth of baby Jesus. Just 3 months since we were singing Christmas carols that proclaimed our saviour’s birth. Now the hot cross buns and Easter eggs have been eaten too. But there is a reason why Charles Wesley originally intended his Christmas carol “Hark the herald angels sing” to be sung to the tune of “Jesus Christ is risen today”. The newborn baby Jesus in the crib and the 33 year old adult Jesus on the Cross are one and the same.
In the week between Palm Sunday and Good Friday we read of Jesus’ final lessons to his disciples and to us. We read of his anger in the temple, throwing out the money changers and animal traders - a reminder that we should never put making money above our prayer and worship of God. We read that on the night before he died, he knelt at his disciples’ feet and washed them – a reminder that we should put serving and caring for others above looking after number one. Then we read how his life with us, living as one of us, ended – with the cry of “It is finished!” But one thing Jesus was not good at was staying dead. Three days after the cross we were greeted with a stone that has been rolled away, an empty tomb and a risen Christ, showing us that even beating death is now possible. It was both the finish, and the beginning of a new relationship between God and humanity.
Jesus came to live with us, to teach and show us how to live with God and how to live with our fellow human beings, and then he gave us a glimpse of our own future. We too will pass through death and live with God forever. And that is why we remember Easter, the day Jesus rose from the dead, with eggs. Their shape reminds us of the stone that was rolled away. Cracked open their shape remind us of the empty tomb. And they are eggs - a symbol of resurrection, new beginnings, new hope and new life.
The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised’. (Matthew 28:5-6)
Revd Eddie