Skip to main content

An Empty Cross and an Empty Tomb Change Everything

 


Many will be aware of the protests of parents outside a grammar school in Yorkshire. It is over an image shown in a classroom setting in which racism and blasphemy were being addressed. Feelings have been so strong, voices so strident and demanding, that a teacher has had to go into hiding, fearing for their safety. Students of the school have now signed an online petition asking for the teacher to be reinstated, insisting he is not racist.

Clearly, the sacred is important to people of faith, important enough for the voices of the faithful to be raised when they believe what they regard as sacred is being desecrated. As Christians we honour what is sacred to us and understand when people of other faiths might raise their voices in protest when what is sacred to them appears to have been abused.

People may wonder then why Christians don't normally react in such strident and intimidating ways when the name of Jesus is traduced, mocked, and used as a blasphemy. We are jealous for his name, we revere it, glorify it, and worship him as Lord. But we don't react like this because, 2,000 years ago, they put him on a cross, nailed him there, and believed him as shamed and humiliated as a man could possibly be.

This Pasch (Easter) weekend Christians all over the world, followers of the humble carpenter from Nazareth, now the Lord of glory, mark again that terrible day, but more than that, on Sunday we celebrate his victory over that day, and over all the days of shame and rejection suffered by his followers, experienced by those who have bowed the knee and confessed him Lord.

The worst has happened and we are the other side of it, victors because of him. Whatever this dying world says and does now is hollow, empty, and no threat to him or to us. We pity the world, call out to the world to repent, to come join us in his victory, but the world's actions don't affect us as it might affect others.

Nobody needs to go into hiding because of us. People sometimes mistake this for weakness, timid surrender. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have strength on which to draw that this world cannot possibly know or understand. We are called now to follow the one who said:

ā€˜Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.ā€™ Matthew 11:28-30

Our Saviour said the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, who recognise their own spiritual poverty, that those who mourn because of their poverty will be comforted, that the earth will be inherited by the meek, who know that our own hearts are the issue not the hearts of others, and that a consequent hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied without drawing a sword, or throwing a stone. He has said that it is the merciful who will receive mercy, the pure in heart who will see God, and the peacemakers who are the sons of God. Matthew 5:2-10

We are not silent, but led by a different light, and simply choose to use our voice to warn the world, even as it insults us, of the coming day when the one they hung on a cross will sit on the seat of judgement and all will stand before him. Will we be among those who mourn because of spiritual poverty, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? Will we be found to have been merciful, pure-hearted, peacemakers? This is his yoke and burden.

The Christian message to the world is never clearer than at this Easter weekend. A Saviour hung on a cross crying 'it is finished,' declaring his work of atonement was complete, our sins can be forgiven, and we can be complete at last too. Those who hunger for these things know there is yet a work of healing, fulfilling, completing to be done and it is only by faith in the finished work of the man on the cross, the man who walked away from an empty tomb, that we find ourselves at last all that God always intended us to be.

In light of this:

'I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Romans 8:38-39

Have a Blessed Easter

 




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mormon Christians? Whats in a Name?

The Mormon Church, disturbed by the continuing identifying of polygamus sects in the news with the name Mormon, recently issued a press statement aimed at "clarifying" issues. It is interesting to note that if you substitute the name "Christian" where they use the name "Mormon" it makes a very good argument for us against the claims of the Mormon Church. The full press release is reproduced below in italics with each paragraph rewritten in ordinary text to present it from a Christian perspective. SALT LAKE CITY 10 July 2008 On 26 June, Newsroom published a package of information featuring profiles of ordinary Latter-day Saints in Texas. With no other intention but to define themselves, these members provided a tangible depiction of what their faith is all about. They serve as the best distinction between the lifestyles and values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a Texas-based polygamous group that has recently attracted media attent...

The Times of the Gentiles - by Dawn Partington

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that ā€œthe times of the gentilesā€ is a time period of 2,520 years, beginning in 607BC and ending in AD1914. According to their doctrine, Jesus was enthroned as King in AD1914 when the ā€œgentile timesā€ ended. 1. Only one verse in scripture mentions ā€œthe times of the gentilesā€: 'They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.'  Luke 21:24 NIV. The Jehovah's Witness organisation has linked this one verse with other prophetic passages to calculate the supposed length of these ā€œgentile timesā€, notably a time period which began hundreds of years before the incarnation and ended over 1900 years after it. 2. Simple examination of the text of Luke 21 reveals what Jesus was referring to when he used the phrase ā€œthe times of the gentilesā€. Let's look at the passage together and distil this into four points which you may...

How Will Jehovah Forgive Us

  The June 2022 Watchtower Article 24 titled ā€œ Jehovahā€”The Greatest Forgiver ā€ attempts to paint a picture of Jehovah as a wise, just, and knowledgeable judge ā€“ which, of course He is.  However, it also shows Him as a judge who has a number of requirements before He will forgive.  The article quotes numerous Old Testament scriptures showing that Jehovah will forgive our transgressions and agrees that this forgiveness is made possible through Jesus dying for our sins, though it doesnā€™t mention the covenant this sacrifice generated. As Christians we would understand that Jesusā€™ sacrifice, the shedding of His blood, pays for our sins so that a just God can be merciful and forgive them; the price for those sins has already been paid (1 Cor 6 v 20, Heb 9 v 22). In contrast, the Watchtower article talks of there being other requirements for Jehovahā€™s forgiveness.  It states that, before Jehovah will decide to offer forgiveness, ā€œ He needs to be able to consider...