An Easter Message
If you had to pick one moment in the Bible which proves the resurrection, what would you choose? What’s the best evidence that Jesus died and rose again?
Photo by Tobi Gaulke, shared under a Creative Commons licence.
Written by Rev Silvia Purdie for the Common Grace Aotearoa community.
If you had to pick one moment in the Bible which proves the resurrection, what would you choose? What’s the best evidence that Jesus died and rose again?
I’d choose the moment when the apostles are standing before the Sanhedrin Council in Acts 5, boldy declaring that Jesus was raised from death.
They had come a long way, Peter and his friends, from their fishing boat on the lake. Now they stand, crumpled and dirty after being thrown in jail the night before, surrounded by elegant rugs and important men dressed in elegant clothes. Peter and his friends with no education but the one Jesus had given them, with no power but the Holy Spirit. But that morning the power had shifted. They were invited in to the Council chamber, not dragged in chains as they had been before, because as dawn broke that morning they were standing in the Temple, not locked in prison as they should have been, and the guards none the wiser.
They might have been afraid for their lives. Last time they had got off with a warning. This time could be fatal. But there was no fear in their eyes. They might have been in awe of the most powerful men in Israel. They might have been silent, but no. Why? One reason only: Jesus is alive! In the highest court of power, in the darkest prison cell, in the streets and the market, the apostles knew that Jesus is alive.
When we say today that Jesus is alive, what do we mean by it? What I hear in the church is that we know the risen Christ in our personal lives, in our hearts and minds, in the hope and faith and love we share – which is awesome! It is my life’s greatest joy that I know Jesus. I love to worship, teach, praise and fellowship. Personally, I’d be quite comfortable in a Christian bubble. Unfortunately (or maybe it’s a good thing!?) Jesus is not.
The proof of the resurrection is not just in the church (thank goodness!). Christ died and rose again not just for us to feel good about ourselves. There is far too much at stake for the world. Peter’s declaration to the Council was that Jesus was established as Ruler, Leader, Saviour, for repentance and forgiveness of sin. This Easter I hear this as stretching me further and further out of my comfort zone.
What if repentance and forgiveness is not just for us as individual followers, but for all the world? For us a society? What if that included governments and industries? How might the risen Jesus be Saviour far beyond the church?
I have joined a group of missional Christians called Common Grace Aotearoa. We are taking up the challenge, given to us by the Holy Spirit, to speak into the courts of power in our time and place, just as the apostles did in their time. We have three teams. One is caring for the poorest in our nation by asking electricity companies to stop punishing those who struggle to pay to heat their homes. One team is standing with Māori in a strong mission heritage of honouring the Treaty of Waitangi. And the third team is challenging the subsidies given to our biggest polluting industries. In these specific and public ways we are calling for repentance in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.
There’s nothing in it for us. There are far more relaxing things to do than grapple with stuff like the Emissions Trading Scheme. And these are controversial things, topics of conflict. But we’re with Peter when he said, “We must obey God rather than human authority.” We feel that acting for social, Treaty and environmental justice is a vitally important way to witness to the risen Christ.
This year we are calling on the church in Aotearoa to find its voice. We will give you some simple steps to take.
Here’s the first one: pop on the ‘End Free Credits’ website and sign the petition about stopping the subsidising of industrial pollution. Easy peasy.
And check out more on the Common Grace Aotearoa website.
I accuse the church of belittling the power of Easter. When we make crucifixion all about our own personal pain, we domesticate the Gospel. When we see resurrection only in terms of individual emotion, we strip away the power of the risen Christ for the whole world. I’m a pastor and a counsellor, I love personal growth and community wellbeing. But it is not enough. Jesus is Lord and his Lordship extends and extends, way beyond my reach, outside the church, through the halls of power and into the grime of industry. Why? Because he died and rose again. Halleluia!
“And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” Acts 5:32