In this year's Easter Message, Bishop Hugh reflects on how Jesus turns the normal order upside down and started a revolution of hope as well as encouraging us all to join in!
Let’s be clear; people who have been crucified do not come back to life.
The first followers of Jesus in the first century knew it and we know it now. When someone is crucified, that is definitely the end.
But the heart of the Christian faith; the living, beating heart of what Christians believe, is that Jesus Christ - a human being like you and me, was crucified, died and then rose again.
And that impossible truth, that Jesus rose from the dead, marks the moment when the usual pattern of things – life followed by death – was turned upside down.
And from that reversal of what’s normal, flow other truths that turn the world upside down.
For instance, it looks ‘normal’ that powerful people who are in charge get to have the final word – but all the power of the Roman Empire didn’t manage to keep Jesus dead.
Or it’s normal to think that punishment is the right response to injustice and wrongdoing – but the risen Jesus didn’t seek out those who had failed him and nailed him to a cross. Instead, when he meets people, he forgives them and gives them back their dignity.
Or it seems normal that suffering, sin and evil always have the loudest voice in our world – but Jesus’ resurrection promises that their power has been defeated and that there are more important voices at work. The voices of hope, generosity and courage, for instance.
In a world in which violence, injustice and suffering seem so normal, the resurrection opens the door to a new normal and to an alternative pattern of life. Easter tells us that the horrors of war in Ukraine, unimaginable suffering in the Middle East and poverty in our own communities, are not normal and never will be. Easter cries out that homelessness and mental illness are not inevitable and never will be. Easter promises us that hope, forgiveness and mercy are available – that they are the normal that God longs to see.
The risen Jesus says – ‘I have turned what you thought ‘normal’ upside down and started a revolution of hope. Join me and let’s build a new ‘normal’.’
I pray that you will know the new ‘upside down normal’ in your own lives and in your communities and that, seeing the revolution of hope at work, you’ll join in.
Happy Easter and God bless
Bishop Hugh
