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"Easter Day 2011"

After a week of wonderful celebrations, and that’s what they have been, all building up to today, today is the day for JOY. Today is a day full of joy because today all the evil that seems so invincible so often - all that evil today is gloriously overcome: for the power of God is shown in Jesus’ resurrection to be stronger than death itself.

Through this most powerful act of God in raising Jesus Christ from the dead, our human life is given a whole new meaning and context, unthinkable other than for the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus.

As I thought about today’s celebrations and the joy they bring to the Christian community I tried to list the other events in life which bring us joy. Being someone who has always been very interested in sport, I immediately thought about sporting victories. I have a good memory so I can remember the last time Australia won the Ashes.   That was a time of great joy as will the next time. And I hope it’s soon.

And being a Novocastrian I can remember the Grand Finals in 1997 and 2001 when Newcastle won the National Rugby League competition.   In a city the size of Newcastle, those were great days, filled with marvellous joy – and I might say, celebrated with great enthusiasm by Bishop Roger Herft, who from his arrival in Newcastle as Bishop in 1993, made a strong connection with the Newcastle Knights.

All of you have your own teams and if they have won a grand final you know the feeling I’m talking about, and if your team hasn’t won yet, then when it happens you will know that joy when they do.

Another occasion when we feel wonderful elation is when our children are born. The feeling of ultimate fulfilment and the start of a new life is so exhilarating, that our very souls are touched. If you were like me, you carry photos of the newborn around with you and you can’t stop showing everyone.

And when we get our exam results that tell us that we have finally finished that course and we have what we need to get that job or at least set out on a new part of our life – that’s one of the best feelings we can have.

Our wedding day, when our new life with the partner we love begins or these days, more often, enters a new stage is another day when we are overwhelmed by joy.
I hope that you have had the experience of joy in one or more of these things – because our lives need joy like that occasionally to be complete and fulfilled.
Easter joy is a little like all these examples.

It is a great victory. It’s great to be on the winning side. Jesus does all the hard work for us. Jesus bears the pain and suffers for us and battles singlehandedly the forces of evil as he hangs on the cross, his life slipping away.   The taunters and the mockers call out to him, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross, and we will believe in you.”   Satan’s presence among the people call on him, tempt him, to divert from the path set down for him by God.

But he doesn’t give in to the temptation. Even in his weakness he is stronger than their strongest efforts to derail God’s plan of salvation of humankind.    It’s not obvious that this is so at first. Not until the third day. Not until today, for when his friends go looking for him at the tomb, they receive the good news, the gospel:

6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay…
He is risen! Alleluia! Death could not hold Jesus. Those who opposed him and sent him to his death were on the losing side. The evil they did was overcome. Death was overturned once for all, for all who believe in Jesus and his resurrection. Such a great victory never was before and never will be again. And we, all of us here are on the winning side. When life gets tough for us, when we feel that we are a failure because of something that has happened – remember that for your sake, Jesus endured the agony and shame of the cross and overcame it all – so that you might share in that victory.   So you are a winner. That’s got to be great news!

It’s not a victory without a purpose. It’s a victory which brings about new life. Not just a like a holiday or something like that in which we have a bit of a change before heading back to our old situation and our old ways, but a new life. Now it’s true that not everyone makes the most of the gift, but it’s there for you to grasp today if you want, if you choose to do so.

The new life we are given through the resurrection firstly teaches us that we should not fear death. We should not be afraid of what will happen to us but rather we should look forward to what the next part of our life, the heavenly part will hold for us. We don’t know what it will be like, but Jesus tells the faithful that he will prepare a place for them and that he will be there. How great will that be!

But there is more than that for us. Jesus leaves us so many clues on how to live that new life now. He calls us, and through his Spirit, he empowers us to live that new life now; right now, today.   The new life we have in God is a life filled with love. God’s love for us, our love for God and for each other.    I am absolutely convinced that love is the strongest force in the universe. It changes our lives completely from the inside out and back again.   It makes the most unworthy person into a saint. And it brings you and me close to God’s heart.

When you become a committed Christian, people know, they see a change in you which is attractive and compelling. If only they knew it was there for them too, simply for the asking. They can sense the new life you have even if they can’t explain it.
[The new life we have in God is symbolised best in baptism. And today at 10.00 a.m. we have two little ones, Andrea and Medjwok who will enjoy that blessing of baptism and remind us of our own baptism and the promises that were made at our own baptism.]

On our wedding day, a new life-long partnership begins or at least is redefined.   And today, on the feast of the resurrection, it’s a day to begin or renew or redefine our partnership with God.

Are we serious about our love for Jesus Christ? Are we serious? Then how do we show it? Do we show it by regular worship or by membership of a Church community? My own marriage of 29 years and my work with couples preparing for marriage reminds be that any relationship needs time and energy put into it to make it work as best it possible can.
Our relation with Jesus needs the same kind of effort. Spending time, sometimes speaking, sometimes listening, sometimes simply being with him. Not that different to marriage is it.   But what a fantastic relationship it is and what incredible love we experience within it. This love stays passionate, stays healing and sustaining and growing for all of our life. One more reason for the joy which fills us today.

I know many of you will be spending much of today with family and celebrating by way of special meals and gifts and yes, the odd chocolate egg will be thereabouts I’m fairly sure of that. Yesterday I saw the most beautiful sight when, at the Easter egg hunt which we had in the front garden of the Church after the 5.00 pm children’s Easter service, with very little prompting, shared the eggs they found, with kids who hadn’t found many at all.
It filled me with joy to see their joy and the new life of love which they were modelling for all who were there. It’s just a part of the Easter joy that I feel today. It’s my prayer that as you go through today, and perhaps in the days ahead, that there will be special moments of wonderful Easter joy for you also as you consider the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus for you in your life.   And I pray that you will spend some time doing just that and thinking about how best you should respond to it.

For the most joyful words that a person can say are OURS TODAY.

Christ is risen – he is risen indeed. Alleluia!

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