Easter Day this year is April 1st – April Fool’s Day! And what a day to celebrate Easter!
Jesus has been described in many ways: “an inspiration”; “a miracle maker”; “a subversive game changer” – but he has also been described as “a fool”!
Why a fool?
Who else would prod with a stick a hungry alligator? Who else would shout out criticism of the ruling elite? Who else would champion the cause of people thought to be untouchable? Who else would put their own life on the line to highlight the corruption and abuse of all those in power?
A fool? A brave man? A man on a mission?
Jesus was all those things. He flouted convention. He risked the hostile stare. He had no truck with a culture that made some rich and left others in the gutter. He spoke truth to power and lived with integrity – in a way which showed how everyone matters to God and everyone is worthy of respect and understanding, dignity and love.
All of this resulted in him being arrested, tried in a jumped up court and sentenced to death.
Jesus: a mad idealistic fool?
St Paul reminds us that “the foolishness of God is greater than man’s wisdom”. Jesus’ death on the cross appears like madness and yet … through Jesus’ sacrificial death … something truly wonderful, truly revolutionary, truly life-changing happens. Christians call this: the forgiveness of sins.
April Fool’s Day is a day of surprises and the greatest and most wonderful surprise of all is that Jesus is no longer dead but alive again and because of that none of us need fear death. New life bursts from Jesus’ tomb and that new life is available to all of us who believe. That new life transforms EVERYTHING and offers new hope and new purpose to us all.
Happy April Fool’s Day and Happy Easter and may you know the life-changing power of Jesus’ resurrection.
Yours,
Peter Chantry
