Easter bursts into our world once a year, causing parents to scramble for chocolate Easter eggs as they pass the checkout line at the supermarket. Easter is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated events on the Christian calendar, and amongst so many of its teachings, I can’t help but believe that this year one of the greatest messages of Easter is HOPE.
There’s no question that many people today are living in desperation. Whether here in Australia or in my travels around the world, I come across so many people who are really hurting… gripped in fear… and looking for hope.
You know, the truth is that we are living in a time when so many people are confronted by pressure and seemingly hopeless situations.
For many months now we have watched as people are losing their homes, losing money and losing hope. Families, banks, and some of the worlds most high powered governments are taking desperate measures to prevent what some are predicting to be the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Many people are asking “Where is God in it all?”
Friends, so many circumstances in life are beyond our control. It can begin to seem that we are without hope. Can I encourage you, when everything else seems lost… God is still in control. He is the unshakeable…the Absolute.
As stocks plummet, costs rise, and financial pressures close in around us we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. In the midst of such turbulence, we must look to the Creator, and the sacrifice He made for humanity that we might have a lasting hope.
Life is full of disappointments. Changing circumstances, challenging moments. We must ask ourselves these questions…will this disappointment affect my faith in Christ, the power of His Word, the truth about His death and resurrection, His heart to save, heal and transform the lives of people?
It amazes me then that, in the midst of all the devastation around us, we gather to proclaim that He is Risen. We sing that death could not hold Him down, and believe that these very tragedies do not have the last word over us.
This Easter, as we watch countless Australians emerge from horrific, painful, and seemingly hopeless situations, let us remember that Christ’s sacrifice gave us victory over this present darkness, and His resurrection brings the hope of new life.
Over 2000 years ago on that first Easter morning, the angel declared with confidence, “He is not here; He has risen!” Those very words cause a deep stirring in my sprit, and an unexplainable reassurance that indeed my Saviour conquered the grave. This truth is realised as we gather across Good Friday and resurrection Sunday, and the powers of darkness are momentarily paralysed as we join to worship the Risen Redeemer.
As tensions currently rise both globally, and right in our own backyard; I believe that God is calling the Church to rise up and bring hope and solutions to a community in desperate need.
We are called to be a church that desires to love others the way we have been shown love, on the rugged cross of Calvary. The kind of love that presses in and won’t pretend that everything is ok, when it isn’t. A people that find common ground with our neighbors and anyone who hurts, has felt pain and is facing loss. A church that comes alongside the needy and oppressed. The Church of Jesus is called to praise in the midst of fear and uncertainty. For it is in these days, that the hearts of people all across the world are more and more open to the good news of Jesus Christ.
Theologian Tom Wright once said, ‘Easter is the central event of world history, the moment towards which everything was rushing and from which everything emerges new.’
Easter is about making a way for everyone to share in the resurrection, and have a hope that all things can be made new. The incredible promise that Easter brings is that we can look ahead at the path winding before us, and know that there is redemption at the end. When your faith is firmly anchored in the cross of Jesus and the sacrifice He made, then we can have the hope and assurance that we have goodness, grace and mercy that will follow us all of our days.
Jesus died before you ever lived, and He still died! This very thought blows me away; that He knew my rebellion, doubt, sin, and still headed straight for the cross.
Jesus death is not a happy ending to the gospels; instead it is a new beginning…
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus Name
When all around my world gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay
-Edward Mote, 1834
May this Easter weekend be filled with family and community, and may you take the time to reflect on God’s incredible sacrifice, the empty tomb, and our lasting hope.
Happy Easter,
Pastor Brian Houston
