From The Manse Window

From the manse window

BETTER be careful this Sunday, as it’s April Fool’s Day. Your family or friends might be out to play some prank to see how gullible you are! If someone tells you to look out the window at the flying pig race, don’t be fooled. They’re only joking.

It’s mostly harmless fun, a bit of a laugh, though the office workers who taped an air horn under the secretary’s seat may need to have emergency services standing by!

Workplaces are notorious for tricks all year round, with innocent young employees on their first week being sent upstairs to ask for “a bucket of steam” or “a long stand”.

There have been some famous hoaxes over the years, as when the Tower of London invited people to the Annual Ceremony Of Washing The Lions or when the BBC featured a story about the Swiss spaghetti tree.

No-one knows exactly where the tradition came from, though there are records of a Festival of Fools in mediaeval Europe and a possible reference in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” (1392) in which the rooster Chauntecleer and the fox are both fooled through their vanity.

This one fits well with the way in which the term “fool” is usually applied in the Bible, to mean someone who has no regard for God or his moral standards.

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no god.’ They are corrupt . . .” David says in Psalm 14.

Solomon, the king famed for his wisdom, makes many references to fools in his book of Proverbs, describing people who are hot-tempered and reckless.

Any of us can fall for a harmless prank. That doesn’t make us morally corrupt, but here’s something to reflect on. Sometimes things that seem at first to be implausible actually turn out to be true.

At first it must have seemed like a sick joke to the broken-hearted disciples when some of the women came with the news that their master’s tomb was broken open and empty.

Then one or two came hurrying with claims they had actually seen him alive. But how could that be? Hadn’t they seen him crucified on Friday past? Was someone playing some horrible trick?

But then he came and stood among them. Jesus.

No prank. It was him! They recognised him, heard him speaking, were able to touch him, even marvel poignantly at his recent scars.

And though he gently scolded their lack of faith, he also blessed them with his peace and the promise of the Holy Spirit. Thus encouraged and equipped, this little band of amateurs courageously went out to share his Gospel of love and forgiveness, many of them in so doing becoming martyrs. The rest, as they say, is history.

This Sunday is much more than April Fool’s Day. April 1, 2018 is Easter Day when Christians celebrate the greatest event ever – that Jesus, the Rescuer sent by God, miraculously rose from the dead. He lives and reigns, the present and future safe in his keeping.

Don’t be fooled by those who scoff at faith. Discover new hope this year in the One who defeated death, for real!

Next week: Kathrine Davey reflects on equality.