Resurrection of Jesus can change the way we think
This Sunday is Easter Day, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. It’s a joyful event in churches throughout the world as we remember that death on a cross was not the end for Jesus and the message of God’s love that he shared in his words and his actions.
Though Christians interpret what resurrection means in varying ways, at the heart of the message of Easter is a celebration that the world can be changed by love, and the power of love being even stronger than death. It changed the followers of Jesus so much that they went from being hidden away in a small room together to being out on the streets proclaiming the life and love of Jesus. They went from being afraid to being bold in their proclamation of new life.
This change is all the more amazing when we realize that Jesus was executed by the most powerful and violent empire this world has seen. The Roman Empire held its influence through bloody and brutal methods, of which crucifixion was a very visible and heartless example. Yet despite this powerful empire a small group of Israelite believers couldn’t contain their message of a greater ruler than the emperor, a greater power than the Empire. They could see a different way, a way of nonviolence, a way of justice, a way of love which was greater than fear. They could imagine a time when the Empire of Rome would come second to what Jesus had called the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom that had been imagined and proclaimed by the Hebrew prophets over centuries. A Kingdom where all were welcomed, valued, and had a home.
They had a new way of thinking, a dream, a hope. They believed that God called them to live together in faith, hope and love. And that message grew and was spread in many and diverse ways which would go on to change the world. Though the institution we call the Church has often forgotten or even ignored that message of loving resistance to Empire, and indeed has been complicit in some of the worst forms of colonial rule, there is and always has been a message of justice and equity at the heart of Jesus’ teachings and the stories of his encounters with those in need that Jesus followers still try to live by.
That love-filled imagination, that willingness to dream big, can offer us the inspiration to think and act differently. It says that though the problems that surround us seem insurmountable — the climate crisis, poverty, a polarized society, vast inequalities between rich and poor, violence, war, racism and so much more — there is always an alternative. The world can be changed and will be changed by those who live by the values of love, who are creative, who stand for the excluded and disenfranchised, who allow the voiceless to have a voice, who work to create compassionate community.
In the 1980s, the Bishop of Durham in England famously said: “The Resurrection is more than a conjuring trick with bones,” reminding his hearers that it was transformative, world changing. Those followers of Jesus found a new way of seeing and a new voice in the experience we call resurrection, an experience that called them to challenge the might and inhumanity of Empire. In this I find inspiration to seek to make our world a more caring place and care for the Earth that we call home, no matter how the odds seem to be against us.
The Ven. Alastair Singh-McCollum is rector of St. John the Divine Anglican Church in Victoria and archdeacon, diocese of Islands and Inlets. You can find Alastair at the church website stjohnthedivine.bc.ca and on his blog fracme.blogspot.ca.