The world isn't great, but it could be a good deal worse

It wasn't a particularly good Friday for Jesus or his followers and the only mercy is that he died relatively quickly - three hours as opposed to one or two days. However, the Easter story, where our Lord came back from the dead, our path to heaven secured, had a lot more positive impact.

There's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world and with climate change, the return of authoritarian rule and an increasingly uncivil discourse, it's likely to be worse before it gets better. However, without the positive impact of the loving message of Jesus (when properly applied), things might well be even worse. Martin Luther King, William Wilberforce, William Booth and others (there were women, but I've forgotten their names) were inspired by their Christian beliefs to work for positive social change. If it hadn't been for Christianity, the world might well be a less caring place, with more rules-based religion excluding or killing those who were different. Sure, we've mucked up a lot over two millennia, but I think our system of freedom through Christ's blood has been a good thing for Earth.

Have a good Easter everyone.

Holy Week 2011

It's Holy Week this week. Last Easter I posted seven posts on the subject of Jesus' last week before his death. To avoid repeating myself, I'll link them here. Please take a look at them, hopefully you'll learn something.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven

Pentecost

Tomorrow is the day Christians mark the coming of the Holy Spirit to a bunch of scared guys in a room- and the Church's birthday.

Jesus had gone to heaven, but they were still worried about the Jewish authorities. Then the room turns distinctly flamy and tongues of fire land on all of their heads.

They're transformed after this, speaking in dozens of languages to a large crowd- the disciples don't do public speaking before that, I believe.

They were transformed by one element of the Trinity, that still transforms people today.

Happy Pentecost!

Holy Week 6: Dead and Buried

So, Jesus was dead. In fact, they stabbed him with a sword just to make sure. A Jewish leader kindly let Jesus be buried in his family tomb- I don't know where he would have been buried otherwise, but I doubt it would be pleasant.

The tomb was sealed and two soldiers were placed on guard. A fully healthy man would have had difficulty getting out, let alone a dead one.

But the stone would be removed. Clearly you're not dealing with any ordinary man.

Jesus: fully human and fully divine. Omnipotent, omniscient and now, in the Holy Spirit, omnipresent.

There's more awesome to come.

Holy Week 4: A Final Meal and a Final Night

Today is Maundy Thursday, the day when we remember the Last Supper.

Jesus and his disciples were having the traditional Passover meal, remembering another awesome moment of God, the rescuing of the Israelites from Egypt long previously. Then Jesus said "Take eat, this is my body".

Jesus was symbolising the fact that he was about to become a human and divine sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. This was very much his last meal before the horror of the following day.

Now, I was a Doctor Who fan before it was cool. Russell T Davies may be an atheist, but he's worked a fair number of religious metaphors into his scripts.

One scene you may well remember (in fact, you almost certainly do if you watch the show) is that scene from "The End of Time". The Time Lords have vanished and Wilf is stuck in the radiation booth. The Doctor realises that the only way he is going to stop Wilf getting a lethal dose of radiation is to go in there and take it himself.

Now, the Tenth Doctor rather likes being the Tenth Doctor and doesn't want to die. He gives an anguished, angry speech, then he sacrifices himself.

The Garden of Gethsemane is basically what was recreated (it's happened more than once in this show). Jesus, a man who makes the Guardians and the Time Lords look like Paul Daniels, wasn't happy about what he was about to go through.

But he did it. For all us poor Wilfs.

The Ultimate Crowning Moment of Awesome: Holy Week

I'm a member of a site called TV Tropes (see my link bar), where we have a section of great, punch-the-air moments called "Crowning Moment of Awesome".

As a Christian, there is one moment that outshines them all as it involves the King of Kings, Jesus himself. Namely his death upon the cross and resurrection, allowing the forgiveness of our sins and admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven, which will put even the finest palaces to shame.

I'm starting this series, which I hope to do daily up to Easter Sunday, to reflect on this period and share the awesomeness of Jesus.

Firstly, there's the donkey-riding bit. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowd throwing palm leaves in his path. I guess that's to protect the feet of the donkey, who is really the ultimate donkey. Donkeys are a bit of maligned species, compared to horses and ponies. It's a sign of our Lord's humility that he chose a donkey rather than the traditional horse of a conqueror.

Since we're on the subject of conquest, the crowd thought that Jesus would come to liberate them from the tyranny of the Romans. He wasn't, but he will one day (we don't know when) come to liberate all of us from sin, evil and the works of the ultimate Big Bad, Satan.

That final battle will be ultimate form of Nightmare Fuel, but what we get afterwards will be worth it for those who follow Jesus.

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, the day when Christians all over the world remember Jesus' death on the cross.

Over at TV Tropes we have a fairly large category called "Crowning Moment of Awesome", which details awesome moments that occur in fiction and also in real life.

We don't have a section on religion, but if we did, the Crucifixion would have to go on the last.

I've been spending some time over the last few days thinking about the whole story of Holy Week. There are just so many great aspects of it, that show just how amazing God is.

The entry into Jerusalem. Jesus comes into a city on a donkey and people mob him. I'm guessing the palm leaves were for the colt, to protect its feet. That donkey must have had a great story to tell to his peers for the rest of his life. It's also entirely different to traditional triumphant entries- but Jesus was no conventional hero. He was- and still is- so much cooler.

He never ran any earthly body, never ran for office. His only paid job was as a self-employed carpenter. He lived for 33 and a third years. He wrote no books and directly preached to only a few hundred thousand.

Yet this man, the Son of God, has influenced the entire of global history for the past 2000 years. That shows the power of God. Thanks to Jesus, many, many good works have been done as well. I admit that he has been misused for evil by many people, but the good he has achieved far out weighs that. Do you think that we'd have as little poverty as we do in this country without the impact of Christianity?

The Gospels differ over when precisely Jesus cast out the money-changers from the Temple. I'm perfectly happy for him to have done it twice. It's a dramatic enough event and shows a side of Jesus that people sometimes ignore. Yes, he is nice, but he can also be very angry at times.

He used skilled rhetoric and intelligence, not force of arms, to attack the corrupt society of his day. If it wasn't for Jesus, we'd have far more wars these days.

The authorities felt threatened by him. The powerful generally don't like anything that threatens their own position. In this case, the High Council were worried about their income from sacrifices and endangering their own good relations with an imperialist force. So, they falsely accused Jesus of blasphemy, subjected him to an unfair trial and executed him.

On to the Last Supper. Few of us know precisely when we are going to die. It tends to come rather suddenly. Those who know to the precise hour tend to be facing execution.

The Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus must have been terrified. He knew, he knew, that in less than 24 hours, he was going to be flogged, stripped naked and nailed to a cross. He was going to be taunted by a crowd who had earlier supported him and then he was going to die.

He knew he had a way out- he could have fled Jerusalem altogether. He knew Judas was going to betray him- he could have killed him. Yet he chose to face his fate.

He could have made a spectacular demonstration of his power and come off the cross. That would be the predictable thing to do. But Jesus was anything but predictable.

In fact, the evidence of what was going to happen was there, people just interpreted it wrongly.

It had to happen this way. If Jesus had done the "predictable" thing, people wouldn't have believed him.

Witness the Resurrection. It was observed by two women. Women didn't have much respect in society back then.

Jesus was spectacular by not being spectacular. In fact he still is. In the continuing provision for us, the hope he has offered for millions (I am sure many more suicides would occur without Jesus helping people), the miracles that still occur, he shows the awesome power of God.

Happy Easter.