Jesus is alive!
easter
James McPherson: Good Friday? A PR Disaster, Until Sunday Fixed It!
Good Friday? A PR Disaster, Until Sunday Fixed It!
If I weren’t a Christian, I’d at least be curious.
I mean, how do you explain a religion that describes the Friday on which their God died as “Good Friday”?
How is it good?
“Deeply Unfortunate Friday” would be closer to the mark.
“Catastrophic Miscalculation Friday” has a certain ring to it.
“End of Days Friday” is … probably a little dramatic … but still … it makes more sense than “GOOD Friday”.
What’s So Good About Good Friday?
But then, Christianity has always struck me as being a little bit strange.
Not “strange” as in bizarre. Strange as in… unexpectedly compelling. The kind of strange that makes you lean in rather than back away.
That Jesus was a historical figure is not seriously contested. There’s more evidence for the existence of Jesus than there is for Plato or Socrates or a Liberal Party Immigration Policy.
That Jesus died on the cross is also not controversial. The Romans were many things, but vague record-keepers wasn’t one of them.
The Most Audacious Claim in History
But Christianity doesn’t stop at “good man, tragic end”.
It makes the rather audacious claim that this was God Himself — stepping into human history, living the life we should have lived, and dying the death we all deserved.
Which is either the most profound truth ever told … or the most outrageous claim ever made.
If it’s true, it’s both humbling and encouraging.
It’s humbling to hear that, apparently, I’m not fixable with a few minor adjustments and a better morning routine.
It’s encouraging because if God was willing to die on my behalf … then perhaps I’m not quite as disposable as I sometimes suspect.
Did He Actually Rise?
But is it true?
Well, that’s where Easter Sunday comes in. Speaking of Easter Sunday, don’t miss The Macpherson Angle at 8 p.m.
But back to the other Saviour of the world.
If, as The Washington Post once said, Good Friday was the premature end to a gentle Jew’s promising teaching career… then Christianity collapses like a poorly built Ikea shelf.
Nice ideas. Inspiring slogans. Ultimately irrelevant.
But if Jesus DID rise from the dead… that changes everything. And I mean everything.
It means there is a God.
It means there is a God who is interested in us.
And it means there is life eternal beyond the dark horizon that confronts each of us personally at one stage or other, and all of us collectively at moments when Labor is in power.
So did Jesus rise from the dead? Or did he not?
And what’s fascinating about Christianity is that it invites the question.
It doesn’t ask you to vaguely feel your way toward truth — it plants a flag in history and says, “Check that.”
Why It Changes Everything
I’m convinced that, on the balance of evidence, there’s enough to suggest that He did rise from the dead.
Which means no matter who you are, where you’ve been or what you’ve done … there’s hope.
The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.
As C.S. Lewis once said, even if you don’t believe Christianity to be true, it’s the sort of religion that you should wish was true.
If Easter is true, then what looks like the end might just be the beginning of something better than whatever you lost.
So happy Easter. And hang in there.
The Long Weekend
What does Easter mean to you?
Is it all about the bunnies and the eggs? I love chocolate, but this year they seem to be even more expensive than filling the fuel tank.
One headline I saw said this: “Modern Aussie Easter made easy: Barramundi with charred pineapple and a stunning upside-down apple & quince cake” So it’s all about the food then.
For other people, the long weekend is a perfect time to get away, possibly camping. Four days off work and time to de-stress.
The hardware shops will all tell us now is the time to buy that camping gear and paint the house, definitely a mixed message there.
So what is Easter about?
It all goes back to around the year 33 AD in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus Christ had become a problem for the authorities. His ability to draw crowds with lively preaching and miracles of healing was upsetting the religious authorities. Worse still, there was the possibility that riots might erupt, political turmoil develop and the occupying Roman authorities clamp down on everybody.
The religious and civil leaders hatched a plan. They rigged a show trial, complete with false witnesses who claimed that Jesus was stirring up trouble, The Roman governor didn’t have any qualms about crucifying one more Jew.
So on the day we now celebrate as Good Friday, Jesus was nailed to a cross at about 9 o’clock in the morning, dying six hours later. He was buried in a tomb. The authorities thought that episode was over, and life could get back to normal.
However, on Sunday morning, the day we call Easter Sunday, it became clear that Jesus had risen from the dead. Over the next few weeks hundreds of his followers reported seeing Jesus alive, in a restored body.
Easter is a celebration of two things.
We remember that Jesus died for us on Good Friday. His death paid for the things that we did that are wrong.
We also celebrate that Jesus has won the victory over death. He died and returned to life and promises that everyone who trusts him will also live forever.
The most famous verse in the Bible says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
That promise is for you if you will believe it.
Is Easter Really Pagan?
Every year we get the same nonsense arguments about Easter being pagan.
What Is Easter About?
Easter is more than a 4 day long weekend and an opportunity for a short holiday, special as that is.
It is more than chocolate eggs and bunnies, and I enjoy chocolate as much as anybody.
Easter is about the ultimate revelation of what life is about. So of course our culture reacts to that by focusing on the chocolate.
To understand why this is important, we need to travel back in time to a couple of thousand years ago and to the city of Jerusalem. On the eve of the annual Passover festival, a religious teacher called Jesus was put to death on a cross. Three years of public teaching about God had got him into trouble with the authorities, so they did what dictators always do, they had him killed. Problem solved.
That was the Friday, but by Sunday an incredible thing had happened. Jesus’s followers were claiming that Jesus was alive. Even back then, people understood that dead people do not normally come back to life.
Looking back at the reports of the events of that weekend, there are 4 alternatives;
1. Jesus was not really dead. Some people think that in the cool of the cave Jesus somehow revived. The Roman army was the most ruthless and efficient killing organisation of its time. When they killed you, you stayed dead. They did not make mistakes.
2. The disciples stole the body and perpetrated a huge hoax on humanity. The Twelve apostles, (minus Judas who suicided) suffered horrendous torture and death. Would you die for a lie?
3. The authorities stole the body. They had no interest in promoting christianity and could have squashed the movement by simply producing the body.
4. Jesus really is alive. This fits what we know about the early church. Hundreds of followers of Jesus were galvanised by their own meetings with the risen Christ or by reports of people they knew. Their lives were changed for the better, their communities were changed, and in a couple of generations, the whole Roman Empire was changed.
Jesus promised that those who believe in Him, who give Him their loyalty and obedience, they will not die but live for ever. We don’t know exactly what that looks like, but we do know that for followers of Jesus, the next life will be even better than this life. There will be no sadness, fighting, disease or death.
Easter is a time of celebration and joy for christians around the world. Give is a go. Every church in town will be pleased to welcome you.
Easter And Anzac
April is a great month for public holidays and awesome autumn weather.
Next weekend, of course, we celebrate Anzac Day. Born of the tragic losses of life in the so-called Great War, this holiday calls us to remember the sacrifices made by those who have fought in the various services for the safety of our nation. The Australian War Memorial web-site lists over 100,000 deaths in the two world wars alone.
Seeing the images coming from Ukraine over the last month or so has been a sobering reminder of the reality of the destruction brought by tyrants and dictators who seek to expand their own influence. We celebrate Anzac Day in the hope that those who died in war and the service men and women who returned safely fought so that we don’t have to.
Last weekend we celebrated Easter. Far from being just a four day long weekend, for Christians Easter is the pinnacle of the year. On Good Friday, we remember that Jesus died on a cross. This sacrifice set us free from the burden of shame and guilt each of us accumulates in our lies, lusts and selfishness.
Easter culminates with the celebration of the fact that Jesus did not stay dead. He was raised to life as a sign that His death conquered the power of the grave. Now everyone who trusts Him will live for ever with God.
To be a follower of Christ means to set aside our own life for Him. Jesus said that to follow Him, we have to take up our cross daily. That means my desires, my plans and my ambitions have to be “put to death”, or surrendered to God’s will. In the same way that a soldier loses his right to his life while he or she is serving the nation, the follower of Jesus also puts their life aside for the sake of something greater.
Anzac Day and Easter both encourage us to take our eyes from our own lives and look to something beyond, something more important.
Babylon Bee: Satan Releases Statement Declaring Victory
HELL—After one of the biggest, most significant victories of his career, Satan the Prince of Darkness released a statement today touting his accomplishment of defeating the Son of God on the cross on Friday afternoon.
The statement was delivered on a broadcast from the underworld as Lucifer bragged about his “huge, absolutely epic” win killing the Messiah.
“Truly this was one of my greatest achievements,” Satan said as a “Mission Accomplished” banner flashed across the screen. “We are talking one of the best wins, maybe ever. Everyone is saying so. I don’t normally like to brag, but since people have been asking, yes, the rumors are true. I’ve killed the Son of God, mankind’s only hope of salvation, and there’s no chance of a comeback.”
“This is huge.” Satan then pulled out a copy of the Ancient Jerusalem Times and triumphantly pointed out the headline, which read, “Satan Defeats Jesus.” “As you know, I love journalists — some of my favorite people out there — and I’m glad they got yet another story right here. Totally epic! Tremendous!”
At publishing time, Satan had been slightly troubled at the sound of a stone rolling somewhere in the distance, but he’d brushed it off and said it was “probably nothing.
Today’s Sermon
Where Was Jesus on Saturday?
It’s Easter Saturday (more accurately Holy Saturday), the space between the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of Easter.
What was Jesus doing on Saturday?
Maybe we should start with the why of Easter Saturday. In theory Jesus could have resurrected any time after His heart stopped beating. “It is finished!” could have been followed with “Surprise!” as He got down from the cross in His new body.
In Jewish tradition, it was not possible to say that a person’s spirit had truly left their body until the third day after their death. Remember that they counted the day that something happened as the first day. So Jesus rose on the Sunday, the third day after His death.
The delay was for our benefit, so that we would know for sure that He had died on the cross, not merely stunned as some people try to make out. Jesus’ death was truly beyond doubt. Not too many people survived a crucifixion, which in Jesus’ case included a spear thrust through His side.
So the delay was for our benefit, that we would know that the death was real and the resurrection was real.
Jesus’ body remained in the tomb, as far as we know. The opening was sealed and guarded by soldiers in case someone stole the body. They remained there until the events of the resurrection on Sunday morning (see Matthew 28:1-6).
Jesus’ spirit presumably returned to the Father for some high fives and celebration at the completion of the great rescue plan.
In 1 Peter 3:19 we are told that after His death “He went and preached to the spirits in prison.” It is not clear who these spirits are or what He preached to them about or why this happened. But we do know that this particular event happened outside of the constraints of physical time.
Regardless, we do know that Jesus died on Good Friday at the hands of well trained and experienced executioners. We know that He was, by any measure, dead. When He died He took the sins of the world and put them to death also, lifting from us the burden of guilt.
He invites us all to live in resurrection life, being a part of His Kingdom for ever.
New Life Narrabri 