Easter Sunday (05.04.15)<\/p>\n
Easter Is Not Journey\u2019s End\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s tempting to view Easter Day as a climax, a goal achieved. Lent\u2019s six weeks of self-denial are ended, alleluia! But the accompaniment of Jesus is not. Easter\u2019s unique and life-changing celebration is, itself, the impetus for the pilgrims\u2019 next phase. From Easter Day we set out to Pentecost via The Ascension. In all a further sixty days, almost twenty more than in Lent!<\/p>\n One problem is that Easter, much like Christmas, has been commercially hijacked. Whilst the Nativity Crib-scene still has some presence at Christmas, Easter is all bunnies, flowers and chocolate eggs. The public\u2019s attention has been captured at the cost of its vision. Seasonal advertisements, with their plausible exaggeration, are honey trap ensnarements to draw people away from the pilgrim way of a life of faith. The economics of self-regard are riding roughshod over economies caring for all.<\/p>\n Jesus had earlier reminded disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees: \u201cBut the days will come when the bridegroom <\/em>(Jesus) is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.\u201d<\/em> (Mark 2: 20) A major challenge for 21st<\/sup> century Christians is how to convince our mesmerized generation of the eternal dietary deficiencies of their daily life. Their induced fast is that they have allowed Satan to take them away from Jesus.<\/p>\n Despite Jesus\u2019 prediction of his approaching death and Resurrection, his Apostles, disciples and followers would have been disorientated by the reality of his crucifixion. Consequently they would have needed an extensive period of time to come to terms with their Lord\u2019s Resurrection. The Gospels tell us \u2013 \u201cBut the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.\u201d <\/em>(Matt 28: 16-17) The bereaved Thomas – \u201cUnless I can \u2026 I refuse to believe.\u201d <\/em>(John 20: 25) was not alone. If among those privileged to have seen, heard, touched and eaten with the Risen Lord there was hesitation, imagine how it must have been for countless others, the ordinary people. Village life was slow and communication with the outside even slower. People were fully engaged finding work to provide food each day. Had the Risen Jesus walked into some of the distant communities he had visited prior to his death and Resurrection would they have know that he had been tortured and executed and Risen? Theywould more likely have welcomed Jesus, the healer and teacher, rather than their Resurrected Saviour.<\/p>\n Our \u2018instant\u2019 world of communication and incessant activity, besides secularising Easter, has compacted it into a single date on the calendar. As we mark the day, our minds are racing ahead to summer and holidays and .. and\u2026<\/p>\n People laugh at the story of the typical American couple just back from their extensive tour of Europe who, asked by their neighbours \u201cHow was it?\u201d, replied, \u201cDon\u2019t know, we haven\u2019t seen the photos yet.\u201d It\u2019s a story that usually raises a laugh. Could it be that we, too, may well be guilty of rushing through life taking snapshots with out eyes without stopping sufficiently to let all out senses become aware of where we are and what is around us?<\/p>\n Many people, whose lives are frenetic, in a driven and controlled way, fail to identify their controller. It is possible that they didn\u2019t choose for their lives to become so frenetic, they just became so, almost imperceptibly. How could this happen? Well, maybe the apparently true story of the frog and the water will help. A frog is content in cold water so long as it can hop out onto dry land at choice. If a frog is put into hot water it immediately jumps out! However, a frog put into cold water will stay put if very, very gently, that water is brought to boiling point. It\u2019s apparently been proved that a frog will actually stay put and let itself be boiled to death. Humans can be frog-like by remaining in situations that are actually destroying them.<\/p>\n Has Satan hoodwinked many 21st<\/sup> century people? Stealthily and with exquisite care, he ratchets up the pace of human life to a frenetic level, now accepted as \u2018normal\u2019. A \u2018normal\u2019, that is, requiring pharmaceutical and other products to \u2018regulate\u2019 the physical and mental irregularities of stress. While Satan has no control over the duration of our life, he can keep us in a state of frenetic distraction when, by default, we make it possible for him to do so. The eternal deadliness of his manipulative presence is successfully hidden.<\/p>\n The persuasive and omnipresent emphasis on the material and commercial aspects of Easter allow Satan to successfully divert us from the next stage of the pilgrimage of faith with the Risen Lord. Are we being sufficiently encouraged to set out, again, on the pilgrim way to Pentecost, via the Ascension?<\/p>\n It took the first Christians decades to process the assimilation of the truth of Jesus\u2019 Resurrection. Though we have a two thousand year history of Christian predecessors to aid us, we, individually, have to make the same journey of assimilation. The only way to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ is to be a pilgrim following his way. It\u2019s a lifetime\u2019s journey. It will require us be careful in delineating where we should and where we should not follow the way of a world that has been tempted away from following Christ. If we find ourselves being tempted away from an active daily interaction with Christ, then there\u2019s cause for alarm. Aware of the dangers awaiting his followers down the centuries, Christ gave his Church the power to forgive, to heal and to nourish, without limit, in his Name. It\u2019s truly good news that restarts are always possible, at least while there\u2019s a breath in our body.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Easter Sunday (05.04.15) Easter Is Not Journey\u2019s End\u00a0It\u2019s tempting to view Easter Day as a climax, a goal achieved. Lent\u2019s six weeks of self-denial are ended, alleluia! But the accompaniment of Jesus is not. Easter\u2019s unique and life-changing celebration is, … Continue reading