Recently, as I was taking the dogs for a walk, I allowed myself the luxury of having a ponder… a rare luxury indeed! In this job there never seems to be much space to think (apart, that is about the next task that is waiting to be done).
Anyway, as I was pondering, I began to mull over the thought that perhaps the resurrection wasn’t the last word…
Now, before you begin to brand me a heretic, or think that I have started to doubt the facts of the resurrection, let me reassure you – I am 100% convinced of the historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead, and is alive today, but just hear me out…
My mind went back to the first Easter, and how the disciples were huddled together for fear of what might happen to them, and not being able to make sense of the events of that morning, when Jesus suddenly appeared among them, with his words of peace and life.
Over the next 40 days Jesus met with them a number of times, no doubt filling them in on the parts that they still didn’t understand. Together they met, ate and talked, in Jerusalem, Galilee, and, of course, on the road to Emmaus… and perhaps in other places and in other ways that we know nothing about.
Yet, at the end of those 40 days, the world hadn’t changed. No one outside the small select group had the faintest idea of what had happened, and their lives hadn’t been touched at all. They were still waiting for the good news that God had promised.
Then Jesus returned to his Father. (We remember that in a service for Ascension Day on May 13that 7.00pm) But things still stayed the same.
The disciples still met together, ate together and talked together, no doubt discussing all that Jesus had said. They even had time to choose a new number 12 to replace Judas (and we shall be keeping St Matthias’ day at the 10.30am service on May 16th). But still the outside world was ignorant. The Good News had permeated no further than the walls of the room where they were. All those outside still didn’t know there was any Good News.
So it went on for another 10 days, until the Jewish feast of Shavuoth, a harvest festival, when the streets of Jerusalem would once again be packed with visitors to worship at the Temple, little knowing that they were to be the Harvest, God’s Harvest, this year.
All of a sudden, without warning, the Holy Spirit came, and with wind ( the sign of God’s life), with fire (the sign of God’s presence) and with words (the sign of God speaking Good News), the walls that kept the Good News of the resurrection, new life in Christ and the forgiveness of sins, were broken down. The Good News was set free, and the world was changed forever…
3,000 people responded to the Good News that day, 5,000 a short time later, and so the harvest began to be gathered in, the Good News to spread and the Church to grow.
So perhaps you can see what I meant at the beginning. It’s not that the resurrection didn’t happen or wasn’t the most incredible Good News, but simply while the disciples kept it to themselves, the truth of the resurrection and it’s good news had lost their power for those who had not heard it.
The Good News needs to be set free to change lives before it has any power. The longer we keep Good News a secret, the fewer people will hear and respond.
So when we come to Pentecost, it is worthwhile remembering that those same gifts of the first Pentecost – the breath of God’s life, the fire of his presence and the urgent word of his Good News are available to us today, so that God’s Good News can be broadcast to a world desperate for change
May God bless you all
Gordon Percy
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