Church News This amazing Easter
“For we have all shapen Christ but too narrow and to short, and formed conceptions of his love very unworthy of him.
“Oh, that men were taken and catched with his beauty and fairness.”
Samuel Rutherford’s complaint from his Aberdeen prison against 17th century Scotland is still spot on for today’s Scotland.
The personal significance of Jesus’life, the eternal meaning of his gospel, the dynamic impact of his presence in today’s society are collectively and grossly undervalued.
The late professor James Stewart boldly outlined the task for every Christian in this challenging modern society.‘To confront a bewildered and dishevelled age with the fact of Christ, to thrust upon its confusion the creative word of the Cross and smite its disenchantment with the glory of the resurrection’(A Faith to Proclaim, p11).
We mistakenly consider Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) as simple teaching for decent people to lead ordinary lives.
If the Sermon on the Mount is so innocuous then why did Mahatma Gandhi read it as much as he read his own sacred scriptures?
Why did Dietrich Bonhoeffer say of the disciples,‘That they went with Jesus, lived with him and followed him. Because something unique had happened to them?’(Cost of Discipleship, p95)
That‘something’was the overwhelming presence of Jesus.
Consider the reaction of the crowd.
‘When Jesus had finished the crowds were amazed at his teaching for he taught with authority and not as their scribes’ (Matthew 7.28).
‘The crowds were amazed’.
This sentence is a psychological earthquake off the Richter scale. The Greek word ‘ekplesso’for‘amazed’is explosive.
It can mean to be frightened out of one’s senses or to be panic stricken.
They knew something different had happened to them as they had listened to Jesus’ teaching. The people were utterly overwhelmed by Jesus’ message which powered into them with the authority of God.
When Jesus spoke to them, the people heard the voice of God.
Little wonder they were scared out of their wits. Jesus’teaching was not a one-off.
Jesus healed and the crowd went out of control
‘The crowd was astonished ‘beyond measure’(Mark 7.37). All this because in Jesus they were confronted by God.
When Jesus taught, they heard God speak. When Jesus healed, they saw God in action.
But there is still more.
In Luke 9.37-43, we read that Jesus healed the epileptic boy.
When he had finished,‘All were amazed at the majesty of God’ (Luke 7.43).
The Greek word‘megaleiotes’ can mean splendour, grandeur or majesty.
When Jesus healed that wee boy, people caught a glimpse of the majesty of God and were overwhelmed by His power.
Men and women encountered the very majesty of God in the amazing Man from Galilee.
The same can be true for us today.
There is no situation so harsh that it cannot be softened by God in Jesus.
There is no human scene so brutal and lifeless that it cannot be humanised by God in Jesus.
All because in Jesus we encounter what Karl Barth called ‘The humanity of God’.
When we are with Jesus, we are meeting with God.
But, a people neglecting Jesus is blind to God’s presence, deaf to God’s voice and unconscious to the very presence and majesty of God.
Today, people pretend that God is not here.
When God came into the world at Easter, He intended to stay. God has not gone away. God is coming to this Scottish society in and through Jesus.
To God belongs the passion of the Cross and the victory of the tomb.
In Jesus, God translates his holiness into human purity and decency.
God transfers his grace into our personal qualities of kindness and care, God walks at our pace.
God limits his eternity into hours and minutes so that God is with us all the time.
God breaks his wisdom into small pieces our minds can understand (Calvin).
God hears the heartbeat of our faith, we hear the heartbeat of God’s love.
Scotland, listen to this amazing gospel and take our amazing God into your heart
‘God shows his love towards us that while we were separated from him Christ died for us’ (Romans 5.8). church, we know that many will also still be reluctant to do so.
The Scottish Episcopal Church will continue to broadcast video coverage of Eucharistic services via its website, social media channels and YouTube channel.