Mary Magdalene went
and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that
he had said these things to her. Jn 20:18
Mary; Rabbouni.
Two words exchanged and Mary knew that her wildest dreams had come
true. There he was, the man whom
she had seen crucified just a couple of days ago, alive! A moment where life conquered death and
hope overcame despair. A moment
that opens a universe of possibilities, where our wildest hopes and dreams can
be realized.
The resurrection gives us hope, and in a world that is often
dominated by cynicism, we need hope more than ever. I believe in hope, I believe in a better world, I believe we
will see justice, I believe that goodness triumphs over evil – the resurrection
can give us a naive hopeful confidence to proclaim this. The resurrection shows that even in the
darkest times God does not despair on humanity.
The problems of our world are vast and without an
interpretive framework to understand them they can overpower us, leading us
into despair. The resurrection
gives us that interpretive framework.
It is a framework that reminds us that in both our personal brokenness
and the brokenness of our world that Christ brings resurrection. A framework that gives every Christian
the potential to live as a witness to the life bringing power of the
resurrection.
The challenge for Christians is to live up to that potential,
to live as people of hope, people of resurrection. This is not a call for naively happy Christians but a call
for Christians to live with a deep sense of hope in their lives who are firmly
rooted in this world. A belief
that whilst, the resurrection of Jesus was a unique one off event, it is also
an attitude and aspiration that we bring to the world - an attitude that brings
hope.
Strangely, the resurrection brings us to the end of this
journey but the resurrection is never an end point - it is the start. It is the start point that we always
return to, where hope overcomes despair and justice triumphs. The resurrection give us the hope
that we will see a just world - now go and live the resurrection hope.
This post is part of my contribution to the Favourable Time - Get it here!
Good post Ben, thanks
Posted by: Ian Mobsby | April 11, 2010 at 01:35 PM