God requires us to see #BeyondTheCross at Easter

Moderator, Rev. Simon Hansford reminds us that the real message of Easter requires us to see #BeyondTheCross and discover how God’s love transforms our everyday lives.

Download the video for use in your Easter services

Transcript of the video message:

It’s a waste of everyone’s time arguing about chocolate eggs at Easter, and other side issues. We become entangled all too easily, and they create more heat than light.

So, with everything which is going on around us, let’s talk about what matters.

Let’s talk about hope and where we find it.

The essential message of Easter is God in Jesus Christ.

It’s from this starting point that we can address the world around us. If Easter does not address our world, then we have nothing to say.

It’s here we locate our sense of hope.

It’s our hope, centred in Jesus which means we march on Palm Sunday. When we march for refugees on Manus and Nauru, we declare that Jesus has come to surprise those in power and give voice to those who have none. When we visit a person in hospital, or in prison, we name that Jesus is with them.

When Jesus is crucified, we name aloud that Jesus is with all who suffer, all who are victims. We also name the profound truth that Jesus dies not just for those who are victims, but for those who create victims. The brokenness of our world is met in the brokenness of God.

Easter is more than the cross, it’s also the silence of Saturday as the whole creation waits for justice and hopes that death and suffering are not the final words. It’s God with those who are silenced by injustice, or poverty, or violence.

Easter is complete in the resurrection – empty tomb and risen Christ. God declares that death is not the final word. God’s love is.

It’s God’s shout that those who are silenced will be heard, and those who are imprisoned will be set free. In a world of Herods and Pilates and Empires, Easter states that God’s hope is more – forgiving, healing, life-giving.

Easter is always first about Jesus; we hope because we place our lives with Christ. So we march, and share meals, and visit, and declare, and worship, and pray, and proclaim, bearing witness to the One who is with all of us.

This is our story, that our lives and our future are woven into the passion and purpose of God, who intends to save all history and all creation.