Dear Families,

As we come to the end of a very busy term it’s a good time to take stock and focus on the life and death of Jesus. As we enter Holy Week and with the celebration of Easter imminent, you might however be forgiven for thinking that Easter is all about the chocolate. The supermarkets are awash with tinselled-up rabbits and eggs and you have to wade through acres of hot cross buns to get to a loaf of bread.

But the first Easter had practically no advertising and so when it came it was quite a shock and even years later the Gospel writers had trouble dealing with it. Generally, the Gospel writers liked to illustrate events in Jesus’ life with references from texts in the Old Testament….This or that happened so that the Prophecies might be fulfilled. This was especially true when they told the story of Jesus’ suffering and death.

The guards threw dice for his clothes. “They divided my garments among them, they threw lots for my clothing.” PS 22:18.

A soldier put a sponge of vinegar on his spear and offered it to Jesus. “When I was thirsty they gave me vinegar.” PS 69:21.

To confirm that Jesus was dead a soldier drove a spear into Jesus’ side. “They will look upon him whom they have pierced.” Zechariah 12:10.

Just before He died Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me.” PS 21:1

However, when the Gospel writers tell the story of Jesus’ Resurrection, they stop quoting the Old Testament and they are not so precise or certain in the manner in which they write. When these usually fluent writers stumble and search for words, we might well conclude that something has happened for which their experience has not prepared them. Probably, we can all think of times when something has happened in our lives when we feel we have little to say, not because there is nothing to say, but because there is too much to say and we falter in our attempts at expression.

The Resurrection isn’t just a happy ending to a sad story, it is the beginning of a new story not only for the disciples of Jesus but for Jesus’ disciples of today – us. This extract from a Newspaper editorial, offers real relevance to the Easter Story.

“Easter is essentially a universal story that reflects and reinforces this message: that if we allow it to happen, light can overpower the dark, that despite the fact that we live in an unpredictable world where unimaginable suffering can seemingly appear out of nowhere, it need not in the end overwhelm us. In our society, suffering is seen as uncool. We take great lengths to avoid it and hide it in a pile of tinsel and wrap it in distractions.

But Easter is a reminder of the inevitability of suffering and death that is part of the human story. It is also a reminder of the fact that this is not the end of the story. That its final chapter is not an end but the possibility of a new beginning.”

So what will we do with Easter in our lives this year? Confine it to rabbits, eggs and buns, or will we take its true significance into our daily lives and live its message of hope through any circumstance we might have to deal with.