6th April 2026
This is part of a larger picture by Rembrandt. It is dawn on Easter morning. Few people see the dawn every day; most of us are either still asleep or busy working. Few people saw Jesus that morning, and quite likely only a few of those recognised that it was Jesus – the risen Jesus!
Jesus’s resurrection happens quietly, secretly, and is revealed personally only to a few. And even those few, who indeed are his followers, struggle to understand what has happened. It takes time to process it’s Jesus’s resurrection and therefore his gospel message. For the early disciples, the resurrection becomes a vindication of both Jesus’s message and their own continued faith as his followers. Jesus’s resurrection becomes a focal point about which his followers gather. And with Ascension and Pentecost, it becomes the spark that creates the church empowering his followers as a community of strength, wisdom and fellowship that seeks to live and share the gospel values.
Jesus’s death and resurrection, like the seed that dies and becomes a fruitful plant, invigorating new life. As Rowan Williams wrote in his book ‘Resurrection’, “to believe in the risen Jesus is to trust that the regenerative power of God is active in the human world” and he continues “it can only be experienced as transformation and recreation and empowerment…”
Yet when we look around the world we see a mix of images and stories.
In our gardens we observe the blooming of tulips and daffodils, the jewelled presence of lady birds, the songs of birds that are busy matin and nesting. Over the Easter weekend gatherings with family and friends and with happy congregations in our churches, allow us to celebrate new life. While chocolate eggs and other culinary delights provide a culinary marker.
At the same time however others are traumatised by war, by persecution, by the loss of homes and livelihoods. And others struggle with hunger, poverty and economic and environmental impacts of a world in crisis.
Where now is the Easter message? The encouragement to be joyful?
Is it rather an indicator of the ongoing need for salvation? Not just the personal salvation that reassures me that I am loved by God, but the salvation of the world that seeks to establish God’s will here on earth as in heaven? The latter is – and always has been – a work in progress; a work that relies on the cooperation of humans with God. A work that is enhanced when we let God’s spirit work through us.
John’s gospel is full of glimpses of glory – times and instances when God’s glory (salvation) is glimpsed. Jesus’s message is presented through metaphors and riddles. It is a message that implies that the kingdom is something that is going to emerge over time, that it will be a work in progress, that it will be worked at by people, but those people can find strength through the gifts that Jesus offers – such as enlightenment, live-giving water, the bread of life, community.
Jesus’s resurrection is still to be celebrated as a vindication of the life giving power of his gospel – and as a reminder that we his disciples are the means by which salvation can become a reality.
“So Christ is risen!
Risen again
in the midst of it all –
that in some amazing way
we too may be a people of hope
who walk in the light,
imbued with the Spirit.” Peter Millar
The Green Tau 