The Resurrection is God’s “yes” to Jesus’ way of life, the Archbishop of Wales says in his Easter message.
We need to share the values and concerns shown by Jesus if we are to share in His risen life, says Dr Barry Morgan who will preach at Llandaff Cathedral tomorrow (SUNDAY).
That means living life with love and compassion and speaking out against injustice and deprivation.
Easter Message – the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan
The Resurrection is, if you like, God’s ‘Yes’ to Jesus’ way of life. Had God raised either Herod or Pilate, it would have been ratification of human monstrosity. The fact that He raised Jesus ratified, and ratifies, the values of Jesus, the values of forgiveness and mercy, of compassion of joy and service. Jesus’ acceptance and graciousness in inviting outcasts to share table with Him is echoed in His parables and sayings – the Prodigal is feasted on his return, the Lost Sheep is borne off in the arms of the Shepherd and all manner of people are forgiven. No matter how far people had fallen into darkness, Jesus invited them to fellowship. No-one, no matter how badly they have behaved is beyond the reaches of His love. Jesus is the guarantee that love is stronger than death and that the God who made the world has not abandoned it, but taken on its pain and shame and broken through to a new creation.
If we are in Christ Jesus, baptised into Him and raised to new life in Him, then the implications of that are that we too should live out those values of love, forgiveness and compassion in our relationships with one another.
We, who are in Christ, are agents of His kingdom, not just its beneficiaries. So we have to be concerned about, and do something about issues of hunger, war, violence and deprivation – things that mar God’s image and disfigure His world. For how else can we witness to the fact that Jesus is alive and that His values are the only ones in the end that count. We can only do so by displaying them in our own lives and by so committing ourselves to His cause, enable His kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven.
