50 Days of Easter

Yesterday at 7.30 am I was seated in front of this cross and sign waiting for a dawn Church service to begin.  This year clouds thick with moisture from rain, the first decent rain in five months, hung around in the east blocking the sunrise.  Much easier to deal with than a frost, and no rain.  It was a long hot summer.

Yesterday was also my time to reflect on the first Easter, the disciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John sons of Zebedee, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Mathew, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, found themselves in a strange place, the man they called Messiah was dead.

Each man had his own personal regrets about how he had reacted to the trial and execution of the man they had followed for three years.  The events of three days meant that these men had to readjust, did they understand what was happening the day that Jesus was crucified?  No, I don't think they did.

That day, the day we celebrate as Good Friday, the disciples lost their Best Friend Forever because another friend, Judas Iscariot, had betrayed him with a kiss; he had been considered an apostle, Judas was lost that day too.  Would I have wanted to speak to someone who had betrayed my BFF?

The complexity of emotions in this group; they came together, to morn their loss, but their sorrow was interrupted by a couple of excited women shouting, screaming that the Lord has risen. The emotional roller coaster was too much for the apostles, they went out and checked things for themselves and were told that the one they were looking for was not in the tomb.  Another downhill run, if Jesus wasn't in the tomb, then where was he?

In the most unexpected places.  Jesus simply dropped into or popped into the lives of the disciples, he appeared on a road, and in a room, the disciples had to learn to recognize their friend again, Jesus was different, their lives were changing, because the friend that they thought they had lost was with them, 24/7.

This presence became a comfort for the disciples and is the presence that continues Easter for us today, for believers continue to find that Jesus turns up in their lives unexpected, sometimes soothing and sometimes challenging, but always guiding us to understand a little more about the depth of God's love and forgiveness.