​If you ask the average Aussie how they would identify a person as a Christian, the chances are that you’d get maybe one mention of something they do - and also a list of the many things that they don’t do.
The one identifying thing they say we do will probably be: “Well, I guess they go to church.”
The list of don’ts will possibly vary a bit, depending on who they’ve bumped into recently.
Perhaps their response might include: “Well, they don’t drink, or swear, or have sex until they’re married.”


Being against these things is about a million miles away from what Jesus wanted his followers to be known for.
 
A recent survey in the US by the Barna Group found that, over the 20 lifestyle elements studied, there was remarkably little difference in attitudes between those who profess to be Christians and those who don’t. 
I think Jesus would be heartbroken over this result, don’t you?
 
As we find in today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells his followers to: “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
 
Presumably then, the answer that Jesus would wish for his followers to have inspired from the average Aussie Joe in the street, is: “They just love everybody, those Christians. They’ve got no idea! They treat the deadbeats like royalty. They think everyone should be welcome here. They want a second chance for every lowlife loser. They’re over the top. I mean, I’m all for love your neighbour and love your family and all that, because charity is supposed to start at home, but these Jesus followers, well, they’re just fanatical about it. They don’t seem to know when to stop.”

Tragically, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that answer given, but it did, however, seem to be what was said about Jesus himself, in his time with us and I guess that’s the point.
 
In John’s gospel, the words of Jesus about his “new” commandment, follow immediately on from him saying:
“I am only going to be with you for a little while longer.”
They’re part of his conversation with the disciples at the last supper and are some of his parting words to them - his last will and testament, if you like.


So, in the short term, he’s thinking about a situation in which people will remember what he was like when he was walking the streets, and so the point is that people will recognise his disciples by their similarity to him.
They’ll say: “These people treat everyone the way Jesus treated everyone. They must be followers of his, because no-one else would behave like that.”

For that to be the case - for people to automatically make that connection - there has to be this “over-the-top”, “above-and-beyond” aspect to the love that’s shown.
It’s quite common for the average Aussie to say, “Yeah, I reckon I’m a Christian; I follow the golden rule, you know, love your neighbour and all that.”
But Jesus is saying that what people WILL notice is something that’s clearly abnormal, something beyond the norm.
 
In another context, that was the point that Jesus offers by telling the parable of the good Samaritan - in answer to the question, “who is my neighbour?”
Loving your neighbour is not re ally radical - so long as you give your own safe definition of who your neighbour is.
But to paraphrase what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount: “Why should you expect any special reward for loving those who love you?  Even the gangsters and people smugglers do that.”

Right the way through the gospel accounts, the things that are constantly getting Jesus into trouble with the religious leaders - and sometimes with the people in his hometown - are things where his words and actions make loving someone a priority over just obeying rules, observing social niceties, and maintaining the conventional boundaries of “who is my neighbour and who is not”.

Jesus could be thinking: “This bloke needs healing and, yes, I could do it, but it’s the Sabbath and I’m not supposed to do that sort of thing on the Sabbath. But I love him. Why make him wait any longer. I’ll do it now.”
That kind of thinking would end up getting Jesus into trouble with the religious authorities.

Or he could think, “this woman has been caught committing adultery, and the crowd have gathered to execute her by stoning, as the law requires. Do I endorse the law and let them do it.  No! Love doesn’t stand by and let this woman die. I’ll stick my neck out and point out that she’s no worse than anyone else here and challenge them to claim otherwise. That will save her.”
Now we’re talking about being in BIG trouble!

In a same vein, “these people are sitting here in the synagogue applauding me for saying that God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, but they’re so racist. They hate the Palestinians, Sidonians and the Syrians. I’ll tell them that God loves these people just as much as he loves them - and he wants them to do likewise.”
Now he’s in BIG, BIG TROUBLE!
Jesus is going to get himself thrown off a cliff.
 
This last example is the same issue we see played out in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles and it goes to show that the first generation of the followers of Jesus were still struggling with the implications of this
boundary-breaking love after his resurrection and ascension.


They were still caught up in an assumption that, to be a follower of Jesus, meant being Jewish first and still following the religious laws - like what they could and couldn’t eat.
But God had sent Peter to speak to the household of Cornelius - who was not only a gentile, but an officer in the hated Roman occupation forces.
And when God obviously pours out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his family, Peter and the church leaders have to decide what to make of this outrageous disregard of the boundaries.
Are they supposed to love these people? Accept them? Sit and eat at the same table with them? Unthinkable!
It goes against everything they’ve been brought up to believe! But, in the end, they rightly conclude that if the Lord himself is breaking the boundaries and pouring out his love on these people, then they either follow suit, or get themselves out of step with what God is doing.
So they should love as Jesus loves, no matter what trouble it might cause.

Perhaps then, instead of just saying, “If you love like me then everyone will know that you are my followers,”
Jesus could have said, “If you love so generously and extravagantly and outrageously that you stir up scandal and controversy and get denounced as fanatics and lunatics and sympathisers and bleeding hearts, then everyone will know that you must be one of my followers.”

The call of Jesus to love as he loved, affects pretty much every question and issue we face in life, both as a church and as individuals in the other circles we move in.
It goes to the core of our discipleship, not just because Jesus issued it with the force of a commandment, but because it was the most distinctive feature of his own life and ministry, of his own way of being.
 
When we gather around the communion table to offer ourselves to Christ and to his people, love is what it’s all about - loving God, loving one another gathered here and loving others, wherever they are.
Every time we celebrate Holy Communion, we’re challenged again to come to terms with just how radically and extravagantly and dangerously Jesus loves us, and with that challenge comes the call to offer ourselves to him, to be remade in his image, as people who love as he loved, for his glory and for the liberation of the world.
 
Are we ready to step out in faith, following the example Jesus set?
Will people look at, and to, us when they’re searching for that “Christian” difference to change their life?
 
I pray that we will be able to rise above the masses and stand out as someone that Christ would be proud of.
 
Pastor Rick

​Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers.
Even if you’re not one, we’ve all had one, and on this day, we give thanks to God for everything they’ve done for us.
 
In Psalm 23, we read that “the Lord is my shepherd” and this conjures up some great feelings of safety and security.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells those assembled in front of him that only his sheep can hear his voice.
And in Revelation, we’re told that “the lamb will be at the centre of the throne and will be their shepherd.”
So, we can see that shepherds are very important people in the Kingdom of God – a bit like mothers are!
 
But if you’ve ever been on a sheep station then you’ll probably agree that sheep are not very clever creatures!
You’ll notice that they all tend to follow each other, often in single file and jump for no apparent reason.
 
As citizens of the twenty first century, we don’t take kindly to being likened to sheep.
Granted, in earlier generations, Australia was said to have economically ridden on the sheep’s back, but that’s about where our respect for these animals ends.
Yes, the wool cheque is welcome - but not so the preacher who makes a comparison between us and these woolly imbeciles.
Therefore, I won’t be the one making the comparison; I’ll leave it up to you.
 
But actually, if you’ve ever had a pet lamb, or petted them at the Royal Easter Show, you’ll know how easy it is to become quite attached to them; and I’m sure that’s how it was for the shepherds in the time of Jesus.
They lived with their flock, day in and day out, knew them individually and when even one sheep strayed, they would risk their lives to save them. 
Therefore, it was a natural thing for Jesus to relate us to a flock of sheep, which he had gathered together, and to this flock, looking small and vulnerable among the powerful “wolves and bears” of the Roman Empire, Jesus made this promise when he said:
“I give them [that is, my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”
 
What does this concept “eternal life” mean to you? 
Sadly, some people get the idea that all it means is living forever, staying just as we are.
But let me say, if that’s all it means, I’m out of here.
I don’t want to feel trapped in the limitations of this earthly life - life as I now have it - forever.
The God of Jesus offers us something infinitely better.
Eternal life to him means the fullest possible life, life of the limitless new age, that which humanity has dreamed of.
An awesome life, unlimited life; unbounded in every way, without walls and barriers - nothing to stop us. 
It has new horizons, new depths, new heights, new joys and love beyond anything we thought possible.
 
I feel like I get close to defining it when I say: “Wow!” - eternal life is a “wow” life, with an exclamation mark!  
Not life with a comma, or a tired old semi-colon; not life with a question mark, or life within parentheses.
Certainly not life with a full stop. 
 
The timeless dimension, immortality, is just one of the many facets of eternal life.
To be liberated from this time and space, is merely one of the wonders of its amazing abundance.
Of course, this is important and I’m not trying to minimise this part of it. 
For example, when I see a child wither and die from say, leukaemia, I find profound comfort and encouragement that their life-force, their soul, isn’t terminated along with their physical body, because they have an eternal life with God.
 
Please don’t limit your vision of eternal life to this one element, as it’s only one of the kaleidoscope of opportunities.
 
Eternal life is gloriously expansive, opportunity beyond measure, a level of bliss and growth that no number of earthly words could possibly describe.
It’s the opportunity to be with the Lord forever - and who could want for anything more than that?
 
The next important thing I want to try and express to you is that this “wow life” is life that it begins right now. 
Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, we read that the disciples had already commenced eternal life.
Trusting in Jesus and his God is the way to begin that new life now. 
As Paul says: “If anyone is in Christ, there is new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new.”
 
Caught as we are in the limitations of the here and now, eternal life is only a foretaste - but it is also the real thing. Our bodies and minds limit us, the social and political structures of the world limit us.
But in Christ Jesus, we begin to explore the unlimited dimension - that for which we were created and redeemed.  We begin to experience the awesomeness of: “Wow!”
 
When I look back upon my own little life, scratchy and patchy though it still is; when I remember how my faith grew and my experiences altered from the moment I decide to follow Jesus, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.
It didn’t happen all at once, as the growth can be incremental.
Often, I’ve been impatient – sometimes, I’ve lost the plot, but through the greatness of God, it is happening! 
 
So, I hope I’ve convinced you that eternal life is with us right now.
It’s as if, with Christ at our side, we’re surfing the wave of eternity - right here in our current time.
All around us are the many limitations of time; but on that wave, with Christ beside us, we’re riding along on the crest of the unlimited; the wave of eternal life.
 
And the most significant joy of eternal life is love.
It’s no surprise that John’s Gospel, which is the one that favours the words “eternal life”, is also the one that most forcefully speaks of the importance of love.
Any man or woman who thinks they are just surfing the wave to eternal life, but who aren’t caught up in a greater love – both divine and human – are just fooling themselves. 
Love is the only valid test - love of God, love of each other and love of ourselves.
 
Love is a far more important ingredient of eternal life than is the fact of surviving death - for without love, just surviving death would be pointless.
 
Christ assures us that none of his flock will perish.  
Here, once again, we encounter that strong word: “perish”. 
Flowers wilt and perish, fruits perish, blue Ulysses butterflies perish, leaping red kangaroos perish, our personalities can be corrupted and perish, our bodies will perish, but not the soul-being of those to whom Christ has already transferred to eternal life.  The flock of Christ won’t perish.
 
What matters to us, especially in times of crisis, is not our grasp on the Lord, but his grasp on us.
 
It’s by his grace that we’ll make it, not by our own skill or cleverness.
When we think we can go it alone, then we’re surely in trouble.
But with Christ, we can make it through, knowing that his is the stronger grasp.
That’s a part of the “Wow!” I’ve been talking about.
 
Are you ready to give up trying to do it all by yourself and to surrender to the love of the shepherd?
God is faithful and will never let us down or abandon us.
 
So, if you haven’t already done so, give yourself over to him and join the eternal flock.
Open yourself to him in prayer and surrender to his eternal, wow, life.
I know that you’ll find it to be the best decision you’ll ever make.
Take a moment now, in prayer, to talk to God and ask him to be your life force, now and into the future.
 
Pastor Rick

​In the final movie of the trilogy “Lord of the Rings”, film director Peter Jackson almost seems unsure of what he wants the ending to be.
It seems like he couldn’t decide how this great work by the novelist J.R.R. Tolkien should conclude.
Maybe, in the back of his mind was the thought “Can I make a sequel after this and make even more money?” 
 
The writer of the gospel of John also seems to have been a bit undecided about where to end his work.
Chapter 20 appears to be the logical conclusion, with Jesus doing many other miraculous signs, “which are not recorded in this book”, but then John adds an epilogue which takes us back to where it all began – fishing on the Sea of Tiberias, which is the name used in many Roman texts (we know it better as the Sea of Galilee).
 
Although this story appears to be a bit of an afterthought, it does add to the overall picture of life after the resurrection and it may have been added later by John, or by another writer.
 
We should note that this story is not repeated in any of the other Gospels.
 
Ok, so after the tumultuous entry into Jerusalem of Palm Sunday, the shocking crucifixion on Good Friday and the miraculous resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, Peter and some of the other disciples had gone back to doing what they knew best – fishing – and, early one morning, a man appears on the shore and asks them if they’ve caught anything.
 
Well, they hadn’t had any luck that night, so, when the man tells them to throw their nets onto the other side of the boat and assures them that they’ll catch some fish over there, well, they were doubtful.
But, when they did – my goodness - they could hardly pull the nets in, because there were so many fish in them.
 
It was only then that John recognised Jesus and said to Peter “It is the Lord!”
 
This was the third time that Jesus had appeared to Peter and the disciples.
That number (3), may have been significant in that Peter had denied knowing his Lord 3 times on the night of the trial of Jesus.
It is also consistent with the number of times that Jesus then asks Peter if he (Peter) loves him (Jesus).
 
When Peter assures Jesus that he does, Jesus gives to Peter a call to action.
He says, “Look after, feed and tend my sheep.”
 
Peter did, in fact, go on to demonstrate his love for Christ, becoming the head of the church in Jerusalem and preaching the Gospel widely, as far away as Antioch and even Rome.
He would even be taken somewhere that he didn’t really want to go - to his death on a cross for proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.
His obedience to the task that Jesus gave him would bring glory to God and help to spread the Christian message throughout the known world.
 
We can see that the events of Easter changed things.
Not only for those left behind when Jesus ascended into heaven, but for us, too.
We’ve been charged with the responsibility of looking after others, feeding and caring for them.
 
There’s no going back once a Christian makes the decision to follow Jesus Christ.
They can only move forward as a response to the call of their risen Lord.
 
When things get difficult in our lives, we, too, find it tempting to go back to safe, familiar surroundings, but Christ calls us to go out, to go forward into unfamiliar territory, onto shaky ground.
We’re called to obedience, to put ourselves, our own security, to the back and to push on in Christ’s name.
We know that Peter wasn’t perfect, before or after this encounter with Jesus, but he was obedient and he moved forward, unafraid of whatever would come.
 
This passage can also be a great text for a prayer. I encourage you to read it in that way and try imagining Jesus asking you “Do you love me?”
Then ask yourself whether you can respond like Peter did.
Listen in silence to hear what God reveals to you.
Determine who is in need of love and help and then form a plan for how you can assist them.
 
It might seem scary at first, but going forward will glorify Christ and we should remember him saying that he will go ahead of us and call us.
 
Our calling might not be exactly what we had imagined.
And it might take us to some strange places.
It’s all part of what I’m terming “mysterious callings”.
 
In a similar way, as we hear from the book of Acts, Saul, also known by his Roman name Paul, was another one who didn’t imagine the future that God had in mind for him.
He was a Jew’s Jew, a Pharisee, well trained in the Jewish religious ways.
 
In a later letter to the believers in Philippi, Paul described himself as having been circumcised as an infant on the eighth day.
He further confirmed this by stating that he was of the people Israel and he went on to cite his descent from the tribe of Benjamin.
 
At the time after the death and resurrection of Jesus, he was persecuting Christians and has even been implicated in the stoning of Stephen.
 
We read in Acts of his miraculous and mysterious encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, where Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting him.
This encounter left Saul blind for 3 days and during that time, he fasted and prayed to God. 
Jesus then sent Ananias and tasked him with the power to restore Saul’s sight.
 
From that time on, Paul proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God and preached far and wide around the Mediterranean, reaching out to both Jews and gentiles, telling them of God’s love for all of them.
He was so convinced of the truth about Jesus, that he endured many hardships, including times in prison and under house arrest, finally dying in Rome around 66AD.
 
Maybe we don’t feel called in the same ways as Peter or Paul were, but I’m sure that God has a plan for all of us and we’re charged with the responsibility to determine just what that is.
We won’t find that plan written down anywhere, but I believe that, in our prayerful conversations with God, he will reveal it to us.
Then, with his help, we can start putting it into action.
 
Remember, Jesus assured us that we wouldn’t be asked to do anything that God hadn’t prepared us for, so we need to trust him and move forward with the support of the Holy Spirit.
 
Do you love the Lord?
Are you prepared to follow him?
Will you help spread the gospel, the good news about Jesus?
 
I pray that you can answer the Lord in the same way as Peter did, by saying “You know that I do and that I will.”
 
Pastor Rick

This year, the commemoration of ANZAC Day falls very close to our celebration of Easter last weekend.
It may seem a little incongruous to talk about “peace” after these two remembrances of rather gruesome events, but we’re going to talk about God’s peace. The concept of God’s peace is not what many of us may think or expect.
 
“Shalom” says Jesus to his disciples when he appears before them on that day, just after his resurrection.
Shalom roughly translates to “Peace be with you.”
Now, peace was probably the last thing the disciples were thinking about at that stage.
After all, they’d just been on a huge roller coaster ride - seeing the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem only a week before, the changing of the traditional Passover Meal into the sacrament of communion, the traitorous actions of Judas Iscariot - one of their own, the arrest of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, his trial and crucifixion, death and burial, the empty tomb and now, his rising from the dead and appearing before them.
 
Surely, they would have been really confused and scared, not knowing where to turn, or what to do.
Therefore, peace was EXACTLY what they did need.
 
To top it off, Jesus tells them that he’s sending them out into the world with something called “the Holy Spirit” to guide and protect them.
All was coming to a fulfilment. Jesus had assured them earlier that he would bring them comfort and joy (John 17:12-13). He would give them an advocate, "the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father" (John 15:26).
And with that Spirit, he would send them into the world to continue the work and spread the message.
Using the words he used when praying to His Father, he said: "that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:23).
Now, in their presence, Jesus breathed on them, and they were touched by the Holy Spirit.
 
At this time, when Jesus appeared to the disciples, they were a closed, inward-looking group, but he turned them into an open team of missionaries, sent out into the world.
The disciples were told to go out and forgive people’s sins, just as Jesus had forgiven sins when he was in his 3 years of ministry around Galilee and Jerusalem.
He even laid it on them that if they didn’t forgive the sins of others, then their sins would not be forgiven.
Quite a responsibility for a bunch of simple fishermen, tax collectors and the like. 
Could they do the same work as Jesus had done during his ministry on earth? 
Would it work, or would the people just scoff at them, or worse still, stone them for blasphemy?
Speaking of scoffers, there were, and still are today, those who wouldn’t believe that Jesus had died and risen from the grave after 3 days.
In fact, even one of the 12, Thomas, refuses to believe that Jesus is alive, as he wasn’t in the room when Jesus first appears to the disciples.
The words he uses are: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Not an unreasonable assertion, given the circumstances and one that you and I would probably make too.
Even the disciples seem unable to recognise Jesus the first time he appears before them.
It wasn’t until he showed them his hands and side that they recognise him. Does that make Thomas a “doubter” - or a realist?  He saw Jesus nailed to the cross and he saw him die, so, you really can't blame him for wanting a “real” encounter with a “really risen” Lord, just like the other disciples had been privilege to.
 
When you read through the resurrection accounts of all four gospels, you quickly realise that Thomas is not alone in his doubt. In fact, doubt isn't the exception but the rule.
No one - even after all the predictions - no one says, "Welcome back Jesus", or "We knew you would do it", or even "What took you so long?"
No one anticipates the return of Jesus and when he shows up, everyone doubts.
 
To make sure that he includes all his closest followers, Jesus appears a week later, in the same room, although this time John says that the door is closed, but he doesn’t mention the word “locked”.
Jesus doesn’t chide Thomas as he allows him to put his fingers in the nail holes and his hand in the gash made by the centurion’s spear.
It’s then that Thomas utters those profound words “My Lord and my God!”, recognising Jesus for who he is.
 
Then we get that lovely and poignant declaration from Jesus that: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Isn’t that what “faith” is all about?
 
We weren’t there 2,000 years ago, yet we believe that the events occurred and were faithfully recorded and passed down through the ages.
Like Thomas, we’d like to be able to have some physical signs of God’s presence, but, instead, we must rely on our faith and be part of the greater number of people who “have not seen and yet believe”. 
 
So, to all the scoffers, I say that there must have been a cataclysmic event that changed the scared, hiding disciples, into bold advocates for the Gospel – the good news about Jesus. 
I believe that it was this meeting with the risen Jesus, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, that gave them the courage to go out there. Most of them ended up being killed for the words they spoke.
Would they have done that if the Easter message had finished on Good Friday, with their leader being crucified?
I think not.
 
From the immortal poetic words with which John opens his gospel “In the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word WAS God” - sending the reader back to the "big bang" of the creation of the universe, to this final intimate moment of comfort and assurance, John wants us to know that we didn’t have to be there in person.
We didn’t have to walk the paths with Jesus.
We didn’t have to witness the miracles first-hand.
We didn’t have to be in that closed room.
Through the reading of John's message, and others like it, we can hear the stories and believe.
And, in believing, we can have life eternal.
 
As John says in the concluding verses of today’s reading: “these words are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
That’s pretty deep, isn’t it? Not just that we may exist, but that we may have life in his name.  Be wholly devoted to him and live our lives to glorify him.  And that we can live in harmony and peace with other believers. 
 
I like to think of us as Resurrection people - that is - people who don't need to have it all figured out before coming to church, or before helping a neighbour, or feeding someone who is hungry, or caring for someone in need. If we have to figure it all out ahead of time, then we'll probably never get started.
Because, frankly, don't you ever wonder if your acts of mercy, or kindness, actually make a difference?
We know that there are so many hungry people in the world - will the few we can help really change things?
There’s so much hurt in the world - does the hand we extend, or listening ear we offer, really change that?
Our first step on our journey can often be the hardest, but we need to take it to be able to achieve our goals.
 
Because we are Resurrection people we believe, as well as have doubts and, in believing, even in this more fragile way, we act, we reach out, we feed, we care, we tend, we struggle, we work, we love, all without any guarantees, just a promise from the Lord who continues to bless those who believe amid their doubts and keep the faith, amid all their uncertainties.
John 14:27 tells us that Jesus brings us peace. Not the sort of earthly peace that we’re used to, but the eternal peace that only he can give. He tells us not to be afraid, he has gone to be with his Father and we should rejoice.
 
Can you remember when there was a time that Jesus brought peace to you?
Close your eyes now for a short time and see if you can feel the peace of God flowing over you.
 
May the peace of the Lord be with you.

Pastor Rick

​Easter can be a hard time for some people. 
It’s hard to feel God’s loving presence when Jesus is being torn apart by pain, grief and disaster.  
It would have been incredibly hard for Jesus and his followers to feel God’s loving presence on that first Easter. 
So why do we call the day of Jesus’ death “Good Friday”?
Maybe it’s about God’s love coming into the toughest parts of our world and transforming it with his life and love.
 
I wonder, is it the cross itself that we’re remembering, or the suffering that Jesus went through on our behalf?
We know that Jesus had committed no crime and was blemish free.
He’d been tempted by the devil but had resisted - and even turned the tables on him.
Yet he endured anguish and suffering – all on our behalf.          
 
But did Jesus really have to die in such a horrible way?

The disciples, despite being told by Jesus what was going to happen, were devastated when he was killed.
Their hopes and dreams had been shattered and they wondered how they could continue without their leader.
They were in hiding – fearing that the religious leaders would persecute them, too.
Was the Christian movement about to splutter out and end on that Easter Friday, so long ago?
They couldn’t believe that the son of God could be defeated so easily by the Romans and the Jewish Chief Priests.
 
In John 19:30 we hear the last recorded words of Jesus before he gave up his life on the cross: “It is finished.”
But Jesus wasn’t admitting that he’d been beaten by the religious leaders. Instead, his words could be better translated as: “It is completed.”
In other words, what he came to do on earth had been achieved.
Even the seeming ignominy of dying on a Roman torture device.
Because he ultimately defeated death by his resurrection, it no longer has power over us.
 
Let’s take a closer look at that event.
The religious leaders thought they’d got the better of Jesus, but we know that it was just part of God’s overall plan.
In John 10, Jesus asserts that no one will take his life away from him, but he will gladly lay down his life for others.
In other words, Jesus says that no one will kill him, but instead, he LET himself be killed, to make a point.
And that point becomes all too clear once Easter Sunday’s story unfolds.
 
Think about what it would have been like in Jerusalem on that first Easter Sunday morning.
 
One of the disciples runs in breathlessly to meet the others, who were hiding away, fearful for their lives, following the death of their master, a few days earlier.
 
“Hey. Have you heard the good news?     He’s alive!    The master’s alive!
The tomb’s empty and he’s risen from the dead.    Let’s go and tell the others.”
 
Well, I guess that’s how the disciples would have reacted on that Easter Day, after they had gone to visit his tomb, only to find that the stone, which had been blocking the entrance, was rolled away and the tomb now stood empty.
 
Instead of finding the dead body of their Lord, they found two angels outside the tomb, who asked the women why they were looking for the living among the dead?
The disciples, however, were still a bit unsure and some, like Thomas, even refused to believe the words unless they saw Jesus themselves - touched his body – and Thomas even wanted to put his fingers in the nail holes. 
 
Only a few days earlier, on that first Good Friday, the world of the believers had come to a shattering standstill.
Their Lord and Master had been killed – crucified by the Romans - at the insistence of the Jewish High Priests, who were jealous and afraid of the popularity that Jesus had with the common people.
 
The Son of Man may have allowed himself to be killed, but he astounded everyone, including his closest friends and followers, by rising from the grave on the third day, just as had been prophesied in the old scriptures and had, indeed, been espoused by Jesus when teaching his disciples.
But he wasn’t an apparition, a ghost, as many must have thought.
He even ate and drank with his disciples and let them touch his body, to see that he was really there.
 
And he didn’t just disappear on that day, never to be seen again.
He was observed on many occasions, by many followers, over the next 40 days - before he ascended into heaven to be with his Father.
 
Oh yes, there were sceptics and scoffers then and there still are - even today - who say that it was all a big confidence trick - that he never really died.
But think about it for a minute - and this is the thing that really convinces me of the truth of what was written in the gospels about the death and resurrection of Jesus - remember how his followers had hidden themselves after the crucifixion and were afraid for their lives.
They were terrified that the religious authorities would come after them – to stamp out any remnants of the followers of Jesus, who had called himself the Messiah, the Christ, God’s son.
 
But following his resurrection, after they had actually seen him, seen the nail holes in his hands and feet, and the gash in his side, then and only then, did they become brave.
Brave enough to publicly proclaim him, and his message of love, to anyone who’d listen.
 
And not only in Jerusalem, or even Galilee, but throughout the known world.
Apostles like Peter, Paul, Andrew and John travelled widely and preached the gospel – about how God loved everyone, not just the Jews, and that he wanted to be in a relationship with them.
 
The apostles were so sure of what they were doing, that they were prepared to die, rather than deny Jesus.
And in most cases, they WERE killed, sometimes very violently.
And that’s still happening today, as we hear, all too often, that Christians in countries where they are persecuted, prefer to be killed, rather than to renounce their faith.
We know that the gospel didn’t finish with the martyred apostles, or those who’ve given their lives over the years. It’s grown and spread around the world to a point where billions of people have heard it and believed.
These are ordinary people, like you and me.
 
So, what should we do with this knowledge?
Should we just keep it to ourselves and feel all warm and fuzzy inside?
Or should we, too, go out into all the world and let others also share in the Gospel - the good news about Jesus?
 
Would you like to take part in the proclaiming of God’s Kingdom here on earth?
I won’t deceive you - it’s not an easy task, but we’re much luckier here in Australia, as we can proclaim the gospel without fear of persecution.  
That’s not always the case outside of our great country.
 
Surely, each and every one of us can do something to make this story known to others outside the Christian faith.
Search inside yourself, talk to God in prayer, and see what you can do – today, tomorrow, and for every day of the rest of your life.
 
He is risen!        
He is risen indeed!        
 
Easter blessings……..Pastor Rick