What perspective do you have on life? Is there anything which gives it meaning and purpose? What are you living for? Or do you never ask yourself such questions? Do you just live a humdrum existence according to your everyday circumstances, not thinking beyond the demands of every day as it comes? Many are living like that, so that when life is strained or boring, their only resource is to divert their thoughts by switching on the television, reading a thriller, or some other amusement...

World views:

If we stop for a moment and listen to the world-views that are on offer in the market-place of this world’s ideas, we may hear what others live for! Before we go on to see what a contrast there is to be found in the words and life of Jesus! And what joy there is to be found in him!

There are many who choose to live in the present. Believing there is no God, or that he cannot be known, their philosophy is existentialism – that, in a world that is devoid of meaning, we must create our own values; authenticate ourselves by our own actions; take responsibility for our own choices. Live passionately in the now! Take life by the throat, and give it your own meaning!

This view of things claims to be optimistic, but it is bleak for those whose circumstances allow little choice; the poor and oppressed. Those whose lives are failures are, as it were, passed by in the street. This philosophy has been used to give warrant to selfish individualism, and to give excuse to the godless, pleasure-loving hedonism of the West. Live now, for there is nothing beyond death!

Then there are those who live for the future. Many have envisaged an ideal human society – Plato in his Republic; Sir Thomas Moore in his Utopia; Karl Marx in his Communist Manifesto, and many others. Towards the end of the 19th century, scientific advances convinced (and still convince!) many that such utopias are within human reach. But disillusion set in with the 14-18 War, and the dawn of the nuclear age in 1945 has brought more fear than hope. Nevertheless, despite human perversity and mortality, many have sought to create such an ideal society, whether by peaceful means or by revolutionary violence, devoting all their energies to that end.

Finally there are those who live for the past, to perpetuate it and live in it, as far as possible. We recognise with understanding the mind-set of the traditionalist, when he seeks to preserve a peaceful culture in an alien and threatening environment. Those familiar with the play or film Fiddler on the Roof will recall the words of Tevye, living in a Jewish community threatened by Tsarist oppression. The only way he and his family can live is to find a point of reference bringing harmony and balance – and that is found in “tradition”. Without it, life would be “as tenuous as a fiddler on the roof”.

We are all contending with change, and many find the “future shock” of rapid technological advance threatening, although others (as I’ve said) find it exciting, even promising. But there are other kinds of culture change. Not all can cope with it peacefully – especially where past enmities are passed down the generations, or recent atrocities are living memories, dividing communities in the present, and into the future, as in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, and in the Middle East. There, living in and for the past, can be a deadly and hateful thing.

A Christian view of history:

Where does the Christian believer stand amid this turmoil of belief, brought to him daily in the news, in lives around him affected by the actions and opinions of others? What is it the our Lord asks us to do? What is the attitude we are to have in the light of the character and purpose of God, taught to us in the Bible?

Our first reading reminds us that the Bible takes history seriously from beginning to end – it is the stage upon which God reveals his Lordship over all of time, and it is the arena where we are called to live for him. He is Sovereign over all the activities of man, and what he purposes will take place. I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning.. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. (Isa 46:9-11) This gives the Christian an altogether different perspective on history than that of others – it is indeed, “his story” – and we should have great confidence in knowing that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. (Rom 8:28)

Hours before his death, Jesus saw in his disciples’ faces the past, present and future struggling to make sense to them. They too, like their fellow Jews, had lived by their traditions but, in the life of Jesus that they had shared for three years, they had found a new understanding of God’s kingdom, and their hope for the future lay in an expectation of its immediate realisation. Now however, in the present, they faced confusion, and the cross would shatter their utopian dreams.

So Jesus uses the symbolism of that Passover meal to assure them that God’s purpose was still on track. He took bread and wine, gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to them, also the cup of wine, with words that pointed to himself – his offering of himself to death on their behalf, to effect a rescue more profound than that from Egypt. Paul gave the following significance to Jesus’ words and actions: As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup [something to be continued in the present] you proclaim the Lord’s death [in the past] until he comes [in the future]. (1 Cor 11:26) Our whole understanding of time is transformed by what was about to happen.

The Resurrection of Jesus:

I’m sure we’ve all had our dark moments, when we’ve been tempted to think and behave like our unbelieving contemporaries. The disciples had them too, after Jesus had been crucified by their nation’s leaders and rulers. Despite what Jesus had told them – they were totally unprepared for the great reversal that God was bringing about. The women went to do what was fitting for the dead – not to meet a risen Christ!

The men reacted in different ways to the discovery of the empty tomb – puzzlement, denial, a hesitant belief – but the reality was Jesus, gloriously and solidly alive, able to eat and drink in their presence, and ready to talk to them. Changed certainly, soon to be exalted to God’s throne – but undeniably Jesus! What else could so transform these men and women? – and send them out to proclaim a joy and a victory beyond their imagining – to a world as hostile and yet intrigued and wistful as our own!

The resurrection confirms for us all God’s unfailing faithfulness to his promises, his consistent love and mercy towards those who call upon him. As the believer looks back to this event, he is encouraged to go on trusting in God’s grace and help, during those times of trial and testing that we all encounter, and to perceive the meaning of the resurrection for himself, now and in the future.

What does Jesus’ resurrection mean for us, right now?

1. My first thought is that Jesus is alive! – right now! He said, I am with you always, to the very end of the age! (Matt 28:20) When he revealed himself to John, I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! (Rev 1:18) Therefore we may pray to him, who understands our difficulties, and know that he hears us, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb 4:16) And Jesus is praying for us! He is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25)

2. Without the resurrection the death of Jesus would have no meaning, and the cross would be devoid of its power! Since God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead (Acts 2:23,24; 3:13-15), we may be assured that his sacrificial death on our behalf is accepted: He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Rom 4:25) Therefore we may ask for forgiveness of our sins through Jesus’ shed blood.

3. In spite of all the efforts of medical science, we cannot defeat death. Not the ancient Pharoah, embalmed in his pyramid, nor the modern American, cryogenically frozen. We use every euphemism to disguise death’s tragic brutality, and try not to speak about it. But God has done what we cannot do – God has defeated death. And for those who commit their lives to Jesus, he will reverse our death also. We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. (2 Cor 4:14) We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (1 Thess 4:14) In Jesus, God has answered the longing of the human heart!

And let’s be quite clear – Jesus wasn’t just resuscitated, like Lazarus, back to his ordinary mortal life – nor was he become just an immortal spirit. He was raised immortal, alive for evermore, with a real body, but one with a brand new quality of life. And so shall we be, For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed... When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true, “Death has been swallowed up in victory”. (1 Cor 15:52-54) We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. (2 Cor 5:1)

4. Already we’ve quoted verses that link this assured hope with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. For his resurrection is not only the pledge of our resurrection. In it God’s eternal vindication of Jesus, his Son, and his verdict on humanity, has broken into time, into our world, ahead of his Judgement on the Last Day. By overturning man’s verdict, God has announced that he will not neglect to hold all men to account. And Jesus is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. (Acts 10:42; 17:31; John 5:24-29)

5. And upon his return, God will not only restore us who have been united to Jesus, sharing in his resurrection – God will also restore the whole of creation. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed... the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.. (Rom 8:19-21) Jesus’ resurrection signals something truly wonderful, beyond our power to comprehend! We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 7:9-10, 15-17)

6. So our resurrection is not just to be thought of as touching us personally, reuniting us with our loved ones in Christ – although I am sure that reunion will be very wonderful. But we ourselves will be transformed, and so will our relationships – they will no longer be those of this world, but, I’m sure, altogether better. We shall be part of a vast family, God’s adopted sons and daughters, to love and serve him for ever. We shall be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. (1 Thess 4:17,18)

7. Finally, having seen what solid future hope a Christian has we can sit more lightly to present circumstances: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:16-18)

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (2 Cor 7:1)

Paul prays so earnestly and compassionately for his young Christian brothers and sisters: I pray.. that you may know..[the Father’s] incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms...

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God. (Eph 1:18-20; 3:14-19 Amen.