Message from Michael

 
Resurrection!

Easter Sunday is a day for celebration. We proclaim the resurrection from the dead of Jesus, the Son of God, who was crucified. Jesus is alive!

From the outset, this was the message of those first believers. The apostle Peter, in his Pentecost preach in Acts 2, made it clear that Jesus of Nazareth was put to death by being nailed to the cross, “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (v24) He refers to the Old Testament king and prophet David who, “Seeing what was to come … spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.” (v31) Peter hammers his point home “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” (v32)

This good news is proclaimed today, all over the world. This Jesus who was crucified, has risen from the dead. This is good news for each one of us. Those who have received Jesus as Saviour are able to echo the words of David as he sang his song of hope and confidence in God’s power:
Psalm 16:9-11 “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Followers of this resurrected Jesus are an Easter Sunday people in a Good Friday world. We are a people of hope and light and life in a desperate dark and broken world. Those first disciples went out into the world with a message that would transform the world and the societies that they inhabited.
Yet this good news that transformed society, nations, peoples, first brought its transformation to the church. The people of God were enabled to live different lives – different that they had done, and different from the world around them.

In Acts 4:32-35 we read …
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”

The church preached the resurrection, yet they also lived the resurrection. This was a new life and a new way of living – a life that spoke of unity and generosity. Here was good news with legs and hands. The resurrection power that rolled back the stone from the tomb, and raised Jesus’ dead body to life – also broke open purses, possessions and properties. Lives were transformed through resurrection redistribution according to the presented needs, so much so, that “there were no needy persons among them.”

This Easter, testify to Jesus’ resurrection with song and celebration, but also with redistribution – may God’s grace be powerfully at work in our midst – as we recognise and minister to the many needs around us, local and across the globe.

As James writes (James 2:14-17) “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”