So, Easter is all over. Or is it? I guess that for those to whom Easter means only Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies, yes it’s all over. But for Christians, Easter is a season, fifty days that we sometimes call the Great Fifty Days. They begin, of course, on Easter Day, the day of Resurrection, and go on until Pentecost, that day when we remember how the Holy Spirit came to the disciples, the day the Church was born.

These Great Fifty Days give us time to read once more about how Jesus appeared to his followers, filling them with joy and hope, and preparing them for the work that he would leave for them, the spreading of his Good News. All four gospels tell stories of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, stories known and loved by Christians down through the generations, but stories that ever need re-telling. It never fails to amaze me how, no matter how often we read or hear them, these stories are always fresh, and can give us new insights where we maybe thought we had it all figured out!

Can’t you just imagine that first Easter evening? The disciples are a pretty scared and confused bunch, locked away in a room in Jerusalem. Usually we picture this as the upper room where Jesus shared that last supper with them. Rumours are flying around the city about the empty tomb, and the religious authorities have put it out that the disciples have stolen the body in order to say that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross, or maybe was even risen from the dead. Those big shots from the temple don’t want to hear another word about Jesus! So the disciples really have something to fear. But where is Jesus?

O f course, the disciples have heard news. Some of the women of their group have said that when they went to the tomb, angels spoke to them and said Jesus had risen, and Mary Magdalene said she’s actually spoken to Jesus. But can you believe a bunch of hysterical women? Who said Thomas was the only one with doubts? Then Jesus was there among them, still bearing the marks of his dreadful ordeal, but very much alive. And everything changed.

Oh yes. Easter, the Resurrection, changed things. In the book of Acts we read how it changed those frightened and confused disciples into strong and fearless apost

les, preaching the Good News of God in Christ, facing up to those very authorities who had brought about Jesus’ death, and who wished to blot out his name from history. That could never happen. Even one of that very council, a Pharisee called Gamaliel, was wise enough to speak up and say, “If this is of human origin, it will fail, but if it is of God, it cannot be overthrown.” How right he was!

Easter indeed changed things. Indeed Easter has shaped human history. Have you ever wondered how things would be had Jesus not allowed himself to face death on the cross, and never been raised from the dead? Think of his agonized prayer in Gethsemane. “Father, if it’s possible, let this cup be taken from me.” Suppose he hadn’t gone on to say, “Not my will, but yours”. Suppose he had taken the 1st century equivalent of the first flight out of Tel Aviv. No crucifixion. No Easter. Where would we be today? Well, there would be no Church, not of any kind, something we cannot begin to imagine.

Christmas is a great festival for us as well, when we celebrate the birth of the Christ-child. Christmas changed things, but still, had Jesus lived, taught, preached and even done some acts of healing, then died a quiet death at home, had there been no crucifixion and resurrection, his story would have died with him. But Easter happened, and the world was changed forever.

Terrible things still happen in the world, and even in the Church itself. History tells us some pretty terrible things done “in God’s Name”. How God must have hated the Crusades, the Inquisition, the terrible burnings at the time of the Reformation. And it’s not just ancient history. We still haven’t got it right, and many have lost their faith when human actions have made them doubt the goodness of God. Sin didn’t die on the cross. The cross made possible the forgiveness of sin. And, sins forgiven, the resurrection, Easter, gives the promise of new life!

So we must keep our eyes on the risen Christ, and our hearts will know the joy and the hope of Easter, throughout the Great Fifty Days, and ever after! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!