Life is full of choices. We make choices about the things that are within our control – what to buy, how to spend our spare time etc. Sometimes things happen to us or around us, for example, poor health, redundancy etc which are out of our control. All we can do then is choose how we are going to respond to the situation - emotionally, physically, spiritually. In the church calendar, we are halfway through Passion Week, between the exuberance of Palm Sunday, the solemnity of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday. The story of Easter is full of choices. God chose to send Jesus to live as a human amongst us. Jesus chose to step into his public ministry and some point began to understand that this would lead to his death. At any time, he could have chosen to stop doing what he was doing or leave the country and live peacefully elsewhere. He chose to enter Jerusalem loudly and proudly, sitting on a colt, to express his kingship. This was an audacious way to enter the city and was certainly guaranteed to get the attention of the authorities.
The greatest choice of all though, came in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here Jesus wrestled with all that was to come. He asked to be spared and also submitted himself to God’s will. This for me is the pivotal moment in the Easter story. Jesus chose to let go and let God. All he could do then was to choose how to respond to the events which then unfolded – the betrayal, the trial, the taunting by the soldiers and the forgiveness of the thief, as they hung, slowly dying on the crosses. The rest of the Easter narrative relies on Jesus choosing to let go of his life in the garden.
The resurrection is about restoration. Jesus is restored to wholeness; his body is repaired and revived. His status as the one who is fully divine as well as fully human is given back to him. He is no longer the broken man, pushed and pulled about by soldiers obeying orders. He is able to cut through time and space, appearing to his disciples in locked rooms, at the side of the lake and on the road to Emmaus. In the image of the resurrected and restored Christ, we see the fullness of God’s glory. All human actions, and even the natural process of dying, have been overcome in the power of this restored life. The resurrected Jesus does not choose to gather armies or smite his enemies. He continues to teach and guide his disciples, reaching down the centuries through them to us. We are called by him to choose God, to choose justice, peace and healing – for ourselves and for the world around us. Blessings of a new and restored life to you this Easter.
God bless
Cecilia
The greatest choice of all though, came in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here Jesus wrestled with all that was to come. He asked to be spared and also submitted himself to God’s will. This for me is the pivotal moment in the Easter story. Jesus chose to let go and let God. All he could do then was to choose how to respond to the events which then unfolded – the betrayal, the trial, the taunting by the soldiers and the forgiveness of the thief, as they hung, slowly dying on the crosses. The rest of the Easter narrative relies on Jesus choosing to let go of his life in the garden.
The resurrection is about restoration. Jesus is restored to wholeness; his body is repaired and revived. His status as the one who is fully divine as well as fully human is given back to him. He is no longer the broken man, pushed and pulled about by soldiers obeying orders. He is able to cut through time and space, appearing to his disciples in locked rooms, at the side of the lake and on the road to Emmaus. In the image of the resurrected and restored Christ, we see the fullness of God’s glory. All human actions, and even the natural process of dying, have been overcome in the power of this restored life. The resurrected Jesus does not choose to gather armies or smite his enemies. He continues to teach and guide his disciples, reaching down the centuries through them to us. We are called by him to choose God, to choose justice, peace and healing – for ourselves and for the world around us. Blessings of a new and restored life to you this Easter.
God bless
Cecilia
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