Overwhelmed

I suspect that is how many of us feel. There is simply too much that is wrong, or bad, or just plain unbearable. We are appalled by the atrocities committed in Ukraine. Perhaps you are angered by the blatant lack of accountability displayed by Downing Street. It may be that you are dismayed by the cost of living which is spiralling ever higher while your own income is dragged downwards. Perhaps you are still emotionally and physically exhausted by Covid-19 and its aftermath. Just at the moment, life feels unrelentingly grim.
 
I am reminded of Paul talking about a time in Asia, when he says he felt so utterly burdened beyond his own ability to cope that he despaired of life itself. What drove him to the depths on that occasion was not some physical trauma, but extreme emotional pressure. How did he get through those dark days? One thing that made a vital difference was that people were praying for him. Another was that when he had reached the limit of his own resources, with absolutely nothing left and the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, it was then that he found his only option was to rely on the God who raises the dead.
 
And that is the God we believe in. When we rely on him, the resurrection of Jesus has the capacity to impact on our lives here and now. We sell the message of Easter short if we think that Jesus rising from the grave just means that we will go to heaven when we die. The salvation he brings is not some other-worldly life-insurance policy that we can cash in when we die. The resurrection of Jesus brings us life before death: it is God invading our closed system, breaking the nexus of sin and death with his resurrection power. What might that look like, in your experience? That is not something for me to say. But when it happens, it is a God-moment: it is far more than experiencing a change brought about by positive thinking, or by the pursuit of mindfulness, valuable as these might be. It is God’s life springing up in the arid wasteland of our empty souls.
 
Paul records his experience in Asia in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, a letter marked by searing honesty about his own vulnerabilities. Later, he talks about carrying in his body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus might also be displayed in his body, about being given over to death so that the life of Jesus might be shown in his mortal flesh. The consequence is, as he puts it, that ‘death is at work in us, but life is at work in you’ (4:10-12). Whatever life there is in him, comes from God. Not from himself. It is through the cracks in the damaged earthenware vessel of his own life that the light of God shines out to others.
 
That is why it is important that we don’t just turn in on ourselves when life gets tough. The resurrection of Christ both rescues us from death’s door, and it works in and through our own weaknesses to bring life to those around us.

Happy Easter!

Tim Carter