In his Easter message, ARCHBISHOP JOHN BATHERSBY of Brisabne asks us to reflect on the treasure given to us by our faith in Jesus Christ
O EASTER! This is a time given to us by God through the Church.
Let us rejoice, celebrate and gratefully give thanks to God for the gift of life as we anticipate our own resurrection, life in its fullness.
Easter is the culmination of the Good News proclaimed by Jesus during his all too short public life.
Jesus promised a new creation and the beginning of that new creation was his own resurrection.
As Anglican Bishop Thomas Wright stated, “Resurrection is not life after death, but life after life after death.”
The resurrection of Jesus did not happen immediately but three days after his death, just as the resurrection for which we hope will not happen immediately but in God’s own good time when the world will become a new recreated world, we might say a new risen world.
When Jesus’ resurrection happened, the physical body of Jesus became a new creation, the first fruit of the Good News he preached, and in Himself the beginning of a new world, born in and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ resurrection was the foretaste of what was still to come, in the first place a new world, then the possibility of personal resurrection for each one of us, and ultimately the proof of God’s love for the world and us.
As a result Jesus’ resurrection fills us with hope, hope for a world still to come, hope for our own risen presence in that new world, and hope for that fullness of happiness and joy for which we were created.
Each year Easter enables us to explore more fully this remarkable mystery.
Moreover we can do this no more perfectly than by participating fully in the Easter Ceremonies particularly in the Eucharist – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
This Easter let our celebration realise the treasure given to us by our faith in Jesus Christ.
Let us ponder together the wonder-full Mystery of God’s loving and saving presence with all our heart and soul.
