Reflection:  (Today’s reflection is given by Justin Moffatt) 

This here is Easter and this is about hope. It is about this king, who gives hope. Easter is an affirmation that: “I know that my Redeemer lives”, as Job once wrote in pain. 

It is
impossible to convey the full implications of Easter. I’d be satisfied if we just get a taste! A taste that moves us towards wonder. And then to repentance. And then to transformed lives. 

Firstly, the resurrection is a big claim. Christians don’t try to downplay this. We aren’t embarrassed by it. This thrills us. We are saying that God is in this moment: reversing everything bad. Primarily reversing sin. Injustice, bullying, and murder don’t win! The wrath of God has been dealt with. In the end, the resurrection spells the end of sickness, and suffering, and even death itself. This is God, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. 

Secondly, it is startling. It is no wonder that ‘…the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.’ We get that this is unusual. The accounts are refreshingly honest about the starting nature of the claim. In Matthew 28:16-17 we see the presence of doubt in some of the disciples. Many of us doubt. But I think that we forget that we are in God territory. In Acts 26:8 the apostle Paul raises this very question. “Why
should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?”  We ought to think it incredible that dead men come back to life, if we live in a merely materialistic universe; if there is no God.  But if there is one, then maybe he can raise the dead. And maybe he wants death to be defeated. Maybe he defeats it right here in this moment. 

Finally, it’s a challenge. If Jesus was raised from the dead; if Jesus is still alive; if this is God the Son, raised and ruling with his Father in Heaven, then becoming a disciple of Jesus is an imperative. We worship him as king over all.  As more and more people believed the testimony of eyewitnesses, the world was re-shaped; re-cast, with hope at the centre. And not decay.
And not futility. And not death.

Question:  Do you feel that you have had ‘a taste’ of the implications of Easter this year? How has it led you towards wonder, repentance and to a transformed life?

Prayer:  Dear God, please give me a sense of engagement and ‘being there’ as I consider the familiar story of Easter. Please help me realise that this is the hope of the world. Please fill me with awe at what you have done through Jesus. And please fill me with joy, too. Amen.

We have been reading the Bible with Paul White (with contributions from Justin Moffatt). Tomorrow, we begin a new series, “Identity in Christ” by Nicola McDermott.

Now is the time to distribute Bibles throughout China.

Bible Society has been raising funds to provide Bibles to this exponentially growing church. Can you help us now while the way is open?