A Different Life

Have you ever wished that you had done things a little differently? Ever felt that your timing was a bit off? Perhaps when you review past decisions you may think "If only I had -" and then stop yourself because you think, "well, I didn’t and now look!" I have to say, that I have done this often. It can start with something random such as ‘If only I had purchased two pairs of the Gucci midi heel block sandal in the days when I could afford to, as now they’re back, back, back in vogue and I cannot find my original pair.” to “If only I had bought a flat when bank managers didn’t laugh out loud at the prospect of handing over a fat mortgage to freelancers like me, who seemingly want to live the dream in sunny West London.” Perhaps there are other things you might feel you have left it too late to have in your life: children, a spouse, a rewarding career. Or maybe, you feel that yours is a life that is beyond restoration: your health may have deteriorated seriously or you may have lost a loved one. Maybe your own selection of poor choices has landed you at an emotional or financial crisis point. Here is the good news to said scenarios: Christ is risen.  How does that have anything to do with all of the above? Everything.

When the women came on the third day to embalm Jesus body, they found the tomb stone rolled open and an angel of the Lord declaring this:

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!” Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.” Luke 24:6-8

I love both the beginning of this passage: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!” and its close: “Then they remembered his words.”  In both of those statements are signposts to that different life, a life resurrected. When we choose to rake over our past misdemeanours and mistakes, we like the women, are looking for life in the dead things. This is not to say that we should brush over our past, it does and continues to inform us, but it is not the whole story. Likewise when the women: ‘remembered his words.’ they realised that Jesus had been promising to do exactly what he did, rise on the third day.  And yet they had gone to the tomb, expecting the exact opposite, to embalm his dead body.

It got me thinking, how so many of us, particularly if we have been believers for some time, forget one of the central promises of our faith: a new life, one that is not only eternal in its nature as it continues forever with God the Father in Heaven, but also new in the here and now. Jesus died on the cross so that nothing could separate us from God but he rose from the dead, so we could live abundantly in that knowledge. Whether you’re reading this and you’re in your teens or in your nineties, today is actually the first day of your life anew. Whatever happened in the past or is currently happening is altered forever in the simple phrase Christ is Risen. Happy Easter – and for those who like me have been fasting, enjoy the Paschal Lamb chow down, you can see what I’m eating a little later on my other blog, www.gastrotastic.com!