What Comes After Easter?

In a recent workshop with some year 6 pupils we explored the Easter Story - breaking it down into sections from Palm Sunday through to Jesus’ return to heaven.

“Which part of the story is most important?” I asked them.

There was much discussion... it was agreed that Jesus’ death on the cross was key -  but was it as key as Jesus’ resurrection three days later?

Then we asked a harder question... “Was there any part that could be removed?”

One by one each part of the story was considered and found to be significant. Even Peter’s denial of Jesus was a fulfilment of Jesus’ prophetic words at the last supper  and a reminder that Jesus cares about a personal relationship with each of us.

The Easter story is full and rich and important; it takes up 50% of John’s Gospel and yet, so often we try to cram it into one Sunday a year!

So easily the message of Easter becomes that of a problem solved... we are sinful, and Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for those sins. Whilst that is of course true and amazing, it doesn’t cut to the heart for me of what Jesus’ mission was all about.

The problem was not just sin; it was the barrier that sin created between us and God - a barrier that under the old covenant, needed to be battled constantly through sacrifices and prayers. A barrier that meant we could not draw close in relationship with God.  Humans, who God had created to be his friends and collaborators,  were living distant, selfish lives full of sadness and pain - not experiencing the joy-filled provision and love that were part of His original plan and design.

For me, there are two parts of the Easter Story that don’t get enough focus in our retelling for children.

1.      All barriers destroyed

Luke 23 v 44-46

 It was about noon, and the whole land became dark until three o’clock in the afternoon,  because the sun did not shine. The curtain in the Temple was torn in two.  Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, I give you my life.” After Jesus said this, he died.

If you were living in Jerusalem on the day that Jesus died you could not ignore what was happening. The sun had literally gone out - the whole city plunged into darkness, it must have been terrifying. Then in the midst of this the temple curtain - four stories high - ripped from top to bottom. What fear must have filled the hearts of everybody! Was God about to strike them down for what they had done? But no - God was raising bodies from graves!

God was giving the biggest and boldest object lesson anybody could ask for: the barrier between humans and the Holy of Holies was gone, their years of sacrifice and tradition were finished with -  because Jesus had made a new way!

If it wasn’t clear enough that there were no more barriers to accessing God we see it again and again in the story – the stone is rolled away, Jesus appears in locked rooms – the whole Easter story is a picture of God breaking down barriers, we have complete access because of Jesus!

2.      The ultimate invitation

John 20v 15-17

Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Did you take him away, sir? Tell me where you put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

Mary turned toward Jesus and said in the Hebrew language, “Rabboni.” (This means “Teacher.”) Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, because I have not yet gone up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’"

Mary has followed Jesus for years.  She has touched him, wept on him - but in this moment she doesn’t recognise him. She is actively seeking the buried Jesus -  “Tell me where you put him and I will get him”  - but it is only when she is called by name that she receives the revelation: here stands the resurrected Jesus.

She might not be able to physically touch him, but he knows her by name and is inviting her to be not just a friend, but a partner is sharing the Good News. Now Jesus says she can call God her father just as He does, she is a child of God.

The message of Easter is not just one of forgiveness, but one of barriers broken down - God coming down to our selfish sinful painful world so that each one of us can be called by name into relationship with Him, to be part of his world changing plan and his intimate family.

The story of Easter doesn’t just change things for one day, but forever. When Jesus said “It is finished,” things were only just beginning!

On Easter Sunday I asked my group to pause and imagine what our lives would be like if Jesus hadn’t died on the cross for us...if we couldn’t draw close to God... if our sins weren’t forgiven...

It was a sobering thought.

Let us dive into the richness of all that God did through Jesus at Easter - never losing sight of how lifechanging and world changing his death and resurrection are!