Easter

Happy Easter friends, rellies, casual passers-by, Happy Easter to all.

I was up at first light this Easter morning, taking Laurence to work, the roads were quiet and glistening from overnight rain. The sky was lightening, the birds were singing, the blossom on the trees dusky lilac from the half light. Inside their houses I imagine the neighbours were swearing at me for opening the garage doors and starting up the car engine at 6.30 on a Sunday morning, but what can you do ? The buses don't run until 8 and a chap has to make a living.

I like Easter because everything is starting to grow, blossom, bud, nest and what have you, a time of renewal. It was always especially poignant for me during the many years that I used to observe Lent very closely, no meat, no sugar, no alcohol. The Lent term at school was always a difficult one, it was often a short term, but the pupils' behaviour was at its worst.
But I also continue to wonder, year after year about the meaning of Christ's sacrifice. There must have been so many people horribly put to death by the Romans and yet this one death inspired a turning point in thinking. Everything about the story of Jesus's life and death can be seen elsewhere in earlier literature, but this one - yes, inspired a turning point in thinking. Perhaps it was a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man. Humanity was ready for a change of direction. Roman society, for example, was really quite advanced in its ways, but it lacked a sophisticated belief system. And in a way it was ripe for the ethics that Christianity would offer.

The reign of Augustus was characterised by a long period of stability in the republic he created had from the chaos of the collapsing triumvirate. And yet we are told that he reinforced the old highly structured social system, at the same time reinforcing what modern politicians refer to as 'family values'. But he held out against being hailed as divine while he was alive, more difficult to hold out post mortem of course. People really don't listen to the dead, in fact death seems to be an excuse for those left behind to reinterpret who you are. Digression, sorry.
So it's easy to see why Rome at that time would resist the followers of the carpenter from Galilee who preached equality.
But the sheer ferocity of the faith of those early Christians must have kept the fire burning within. There is nothing so enduring in keeping the embers bright and ready to spark new fires than the death of a charismatic leader at the hands of authority, let alone that leader's subsequent resurrection.

So the fires burned among the surrounding communities, and maybe touched the Plebeian class within Rome itself so that later, as Rome devoured itself, the Christian message was there, waiting, biding its time.

People have done some dreadful things in Christ's name. People continue to do dreadful things, but that does not negate what Christianity has given us and all the good Christians who practise in good faith.
In the New Testament, the clear message is one of love. It is far from a simple message, in fact I think it's one of the most complex messages ever given, but it is clear and out there.
And when I do set to thinking about the death of that one man, what I need to remind myself is, that if Christ hadn't accepted his fate, if he had run away and hidden, as he could have done, if he had called Judas Iscariot out or bowed to the Sanhedrin, where would we be now?