EASTER MESSAGE – FR. SHAZZ TURNQUEST

ST. PAUL’S COLLEGE

Mark 16:6-8

6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

The Easter story is truly an exceptional event that defies all human reasoning and understanding. Many people choose not to believe outright that it is possible for a human being to be raised from the dead. Critics will say that Jesus wasn’t really a normal human being anyway so it theoretically might be possible but what about for us ‘normal’ people. The Easter story does highlight two fundamental concerns for all of us as human beings namely:

·         The desire to live forever

·         The desire to not die.

From the minute we are born we are on a journey to the grave. This reality is true regardless of our spiritual affiliation. Even those of us who are not spiritual in any way cannot escape this fundamental law of life of our universe. Everything in the created order dies. Trees die, animals die, humans die, even stars in the sky die. In my 47 years of life I have never met anyone who has ever wanted to die. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the Garden of Gethsemanee, in his pleading with God in Mark 14:35-36 wished that the cup of suffering and death might pass over him. Jesus Christ, in his true humanity did not want to die. Death is the last physical challenge that we as human beings have yet to conquer with all of our intellect and technological advancement. There is no magic pill that we can take to make us live forever. Will we ever scientifically conquer death? I don’t know. Many have tried before and many continue to try. According to an article in the sciencetimes.com on Sept 13,2021 Jeff Bezos, perhaps currently the richest man in the world, is investing heavily in research at a place named Alto Labs to develop genetic reverse ageing technology to try to live forever. Even he too doesn’t want to die.

The miracle of Easter gives us a clue into how we can in fact beat death. We have to die first in order to live forever! Immortality lives within us as the soul and spirit are in fact immortal. Only the human body is finite. It simply cannot live longer than a specified time. Even the healthiest person, at some point has to die. The human being is the most fascinating creature ever created. The body contains an immortal soul, implanted within each of us from the moment of our creation when the miracle of biology happens within our mother’s womb. Life begins at the fusion of the sperm and the egg, it is our Big Bang. Is that one of the hidden places where God reveals Himself? From that point on everything else is evolutionary. Like a baby growing in the womb, or a caterpillar undergoing a metamorphosis to a butterfly in a cocoon, Jesus became spirit and soul albeit with a twist He also transformed his physical body into something else for his scars were still visible as Thomas the disciple would discover a little later. So what does that mean for me and you? Many religions believe that there is life after death. The ancient Egyptians buried the Pharaohs with wealth to spend in the afterlife. In our own local culture models of items that we believe our dead relatives will need in the next life are burned at their funerals. 

Easter reminds us every year to live in hope. Life without hope is dark and depressing. Hope is nourishment for the soul. Hope gives us the energy to keep pressing forward amidst the most difficult of times. It is no divine accident that Easter falls, for the most part, in the springtime every year. S