Bp. Martyn Minns Easter message: Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

It is the greatest cry of triumph that the world has ever known! It needs to be shouted loud and often because the resurrection of Jesus changes everything for everyone.

It changes how we look at life. Most people live as if this life is all that there is. “You only live once, so why not go out in style?” is the way actor Jack Nicholson puts it in the recent movie, “The Bucket List.” The premise of the movie is that his goal, along with actor Morgan Freeman’s, is to discover the joy in their lives before it’s too late. Lots of people live with this as their unspoken assumption. All this changes once we hear the resurrection cry. This life is not all that there is; in truth, this life is just the beginning of life eternal and the next life is more exciting and satisfying than this life will ever be.

It changes how we look at death. According to Benjamin Franklin, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Both are bad news! Death is so often seen as the end of all that we love and is to be avoided at all cost; but sadly, in the end, it is something to which we must all submit. Not so fast, says the apostle Paul who writes, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Once we profess the truth of the resurrection then death is no longer to be feared. It loses its power over us. We know that death is not the end of everything but the beginning of a new life in the presence of the One who is the Lord of life.

It changes how we look at Jesus. “I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history,” wrote H.G. Wells. There have been lots of other people who have claimed to be the Messiah but none of them have ever been raised from the dead! The resurrection makes him unique. Jesus beat death! He is the only man ever to do so. But what is even more astonishing is that Jesus promises that all those who put their trust in Him will beat death also.

It changes how we look at ourselves. “Got any rivers you think are uncrossable? Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible and does the things that others cannot do,” according to that old Gospel chorus. Once we hear the resurrection cry we know that nothing is impossible for God. When we look at the challenges in our own lives and in the world around us we do so with confidence. We know that Jesus overcame the very worst that the world could throw at him and in his Name we can do the same. That is the glorious promise of Easter Day. It is a promise to be proclaimed to the whole world because it changes everything.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

The Rt. Rev’d Martyn Minns
Missionary Bishop of CANA
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