An Easter Celebrity!

As we journey through March, there is so much going on. After a dark, dismal, and wet winter, the mornings and evenings are getting lighter, and the spring flowers are blooming! Yes, that ring of Daffs and crocuses are on the vicarage lawn all too soon.

Our Lenten journey is underway - thank you to those that are journeying through Lent with me and especially those exploring faith through the Lenten study. Sadly, there will not be a Daffodil Sunday on Mothering Sunday because of the weather, but there will be Palm Sunday to look forward to - with our Benefice procession in Madresfield, and this year, two Priests will work together to herald the start of Passiontide.

Very soon, we will have Easter upon us. If I asked, during a sermon slot, who is the most famous person "out there” at the moment, who would you say? Go on, check through your newspapers, flick through the daytime TV or radio stations, look online. Who is: out there" right now? Who was out there last year, but hasn't been seen since?

We increasingly live in a 'celebrity culture'. Everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame; notability or even notoriety will do. Social media, magazines, newspapers, and television game shows all have their tame or not so tame celebrity to call upon. A celebrity culture is very enticing and the public acclamation we afford to others is very revealing. It says something about what we value - image, money, recognition, youth, power. More than that, it says something about human identity, about who we think we are, and who we would like to be.

The word ‘celebrity’ comes from the Latin root, 'celebrem' which has connotations with both 'fame' and 'being thronged'. And if you read the gospel accounts of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the day we have come to know as Palm Sunday, you might easily imagine that Jesus was a sort of first century celebrity: "The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna!' 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' 'Blessed is the King of Israel!'.

The ‘Feast' was the Passover when over 2 million people gathered in Jerusalem and this great crowd, fuelled by reports of the raising of Lazarus, heard Jesus was coming and so they acclaimed Him as their King, the one who would lead the rebellion against the Roman occupation of their land. Consequently, the crowd were full of nationalistic and messianic fervour. However, He came not on a warhorse but on a donkey; to defeat not the Romans but the power of sin and death. This was to fulfil what had been foretold hundreds of years earlier by a prophet; “called Zechariah: “Do not be afraid, O daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming seated on a donkey’s colt.”; a King who would proclaim peace to the nations and whose rule will extend to the ends of the earth. Thus, Jesus’ triumphal entry showed that His Kingship was non-military. He would be crowned upon a cross of sacrifice through which He will achieve freedom for His worldwide subjects who put their faith in Him. He is the King of peace through whom we can have peace with God, but to achieve this He needed to ride on in lowly pomp to die. I sometimes wonder how many of those who cried ‘Hosanna’ on Palm Sunday cried, ‘Crucify’ on Good Friday?

You see, Jesus knew He was about to die, despite the acclamation He received. He knew that the crowd would soon be shouting ‘crucify him!.’ However, Jesus’ death was not to be a tragedy, but rather a triumph. For by going the way of the cross, by His supreme act of obedience unto death, He first had to endure the suffering before the glory, the cross before the crown, and all that that entailed – the pain, the humiliation, the false accusation, the agony, and the burden of bearing the sins of the whole world. He endured all of this for you and for me - He perished so that we don’t have to - hence, the day we remember His death is GOOD FRIDAY and why Jesus is GOOD NEWS for sharing. A new life for all of us. Life from Death, light overcoming the darkness.

Scratch the surface beneath the other modern-day icons of Easter - no, not the celebrities this time - I mean the chocolate eggs and bunnies, Easter wreaths and gardens, and you still unearth something quite profound about the need we have for new life. Eggs and bunnies both represent new life which is exactly what Easter signifies for all Christians. Recently online I saw a post featuring a sign from a forest in Central America that said, “Here in this rainforest there is no death, only life in transition.” This notice was speaking of the endless cycle of death and rebirth in the natural world. That same line might have been written by a theologian because what the resurrection of Jesus tells us is exactly the same message for human beings. It is a universally applied quality owned by us all simply by being part of the same created order as that rainforest. “In him was life and that life was the light of all men” as it says in John’s Gospel Turn on a light in the middle of the night, or light a candle in a darkened church to see what I mean – light is greater than darkness – good is greater than evil – and life is stronger than death.

Easter is the greatest ever story of hope! Despite what is going on in the world, and perhaps in our own lives right now, the message of triumph of life over death, light over darkness, love over hatred, peace over anxiety, and joy over grief remains unchanged. So let us celebrate His victorious resurrection and all that it means to be ransomed, healed, restored, and forgiven!

With every blessing for a great Easter Feast - Rev Gary