Tomorrow being Easter Day here in England, members of St Mary's Old Harlow will be gathering to celebrate what is for us the greatest miracle of all time: the resurrection of Jesus. As the Gospel records tell us, this happened in early morning, while it was still dark and the city was asleep. But the impact of the resurrection of Jesus was to felt, not only through the rest of that day, but through all history since.
Something happened in the darkness of that tomb in the wee hours of that first Easter morning whose significance is still being felt around the world today. Various attempts have been made to explain away Jesus' resurrection, but the event is not explained by the expectations of Jesus' followers, none of whom expected it to happen, and all of them amazed and overjoyed after the event.
Checking the evidence for this event is a painstaking process, not one we have time for here. Jesus' resurrection highlights the significance of his death just two days before: death by the most gruesome means known in that time and place; death in place of a murderer named Barabbas, whose fate would almost certainly have been the same had he not been released, thereby sealing Jesus' condemnation.
The Roman governor at the time, perhaps the most famous Roman governor of all time, Pontius Pilate offered the people a choice, in keeping with a custom of releasing a prisoner at the time of the Passover. The choice was between Barabbas and Jesus; Barabbas was chosen and set free; Jesus was sent to be crucified.
Barabbas stands for a humanity out of relationship with God, a condition with all kinds of distortions evident across the world today, through greed, wars, man-made disasters, preventable disease, murder, strife and so on. One man dies so that another man can be set free.
Followers of Jesus today see his story at work in their own lives. They see in Jesus someone who died on their behalf, with all of God's anger at human sinfulness directed at him at that moment, so that they can enjoy God's love now and for eternity. They see in Jesus someone whose resurrection from the dead guarantees God's good future for them - not because they are anything special in themselves, but because of God's extraordinary love.
Much space in the New Testament is given to reflection on the significance of Jesus' resurrection. Finding out what it might mean for ourselves could depend on seeing what it means in the lives of members of St Mary's Old Harlow, some of whom will be baptised, and some of whom will be reaffirming their baptismal vows with full immersion in water, enacting, as it were, dying to their old lives without God at the centre, and rising to new lives with Jesus. All will be celebrating an event that happened in a cold, dark tomb some 2000 years ago.
Why not check us out and see what this extraordinary event in history could come to mean for you? We're here every Sunday and at other times in the week. We look forward to seeing you.
