Easter (Part 1 of 2)

So, what's new? Well, it's March, and it's still snowing (this just doesn't sit well in my head). I'm trudging my way through my final deadlines, and my parents have booked a b'n'b for my graduation. Scary times. I can't quite believe three years has gone by so fast. It feels like yesterday I thought 2013 was an absolute age away.

But, alas, that is not where I'm going with this post. It's Easter (part one of two)! And, whilst I am still super annoyed that my university doesn't seem to view it as enough reason to shift their terms, part of me is excited to be able to celebrate with my church family here before I go home for a couple of weeks.

A few weeks ago, I posted about my plans for Lent. Well, that kind of fell through, and I didn't do a very good job of it. And that's okay. A new day has come, a day where none of the rules of religion matter.

Easter is a time for remembrance; to remember one man, his life, and, ultimately, his death.

His story started in a barn in Bethlehem. Not the best of starts for a King. He grew to be a carpenter, before walking the land with no belongings and no bed to rest in, relying on his Father and the people he met along the way. He ate and talked with the despised, including rich tax-collectors, the sick, and prostitutes. All the while he gathered people - ordinary, working, uneducated people - to follow him and serve him and the people around him, just as he did. He drove out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead and forgave sins - something which all Jewish people knew only God had the authority to do.

Yet, not everyone was entirely happy with this arrangement. The religious leaders questioned him, as he seemed to defy all their laws, and was outside the neat little box they had created for God. Demons feared him as they recognised who he was, and his true authority. And people just didn't understand him and his message, instead looking for signs and miracles over faith.

As a result, the authorities took him, and beat him into an inch of life. They nailed a plank of wood to his back, and made him carry it to his own death. He was lifted onto a cross, and there he died. Not exactly the kind of treatment you'd expect for a King, much less the son of God.

But then again, Jesus was no ordinary King. That wasn't it for him. The way he lived, and the way he died, was perfect. Ordinary, yet extraordinary. He walked in grace, and humility, authority, and love.

"Love each other in the same way that I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends...I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the father told me." (John 15:12-15)

Jesus calls us friend, and lays down his life for us in complete perfect love. What's more, we can know God through Jesus; this is not an exclusive secret. It's for everyone. Jesus calls us to do nothing except love and give our lives to others. I say 'nothing', this isn't an easy task. What I mean is that he doesn't call us to follow a long list of rules. He knows as well as we do that this is just impossible. Instead, he calls us to live in grace, and humility, authority, and love. Just as he did.

Easter is not just a time for remembrance. How will you respond?