Beyond the Veil

As I woke this morning and pottered about my room one thing struck me. As the sun flooded into the room from the skylight above, the world rested in one perfect, still, small silence. Complete quiet. Complete rest. No bells, no cars, no shouts. Nothing. A very silent world seemingly basking in the knowledge that today, while perfectly ordinary in its composition, is unlike any other day. Good Friday, the day of the Passion of our Lord.

This Easter season has been somewhat elusive to me this year. Through the forty days of fast, prayer and almsgiving we are led further up and further in to this mystery that, for those who believe, has changed everything. But in the regularity I find it's often easy to fall into the trap of running through the motions. We know what the point of it all is - God made man took our sins upon Himself in order to pay the price that we could not pay, thus redeeming the world; and in His resurrection opened the way for those who believe to be glorified with Him in everlasting life. Talk about a mouthful. Simple isn't it? So simple.

What makes Easter so particular then? Christ accomplishes His ultimate goal for being incarnate on this earth. He unites Himself with us fully, taking the suffering that was ours to bear, and taking it not without fear. And He was afraid. He was to undergo physical pain that most people will never even fathom; the disciples He would leave behind were far from "enlightened" and in their current condition unlikely to carry on His ministry; He would entrust his family to the care of others when He was still young and able. And yet He did all this, without a single protest, with no objection. Without even opening his mouth. How? We cannot know what He pondered in His heart and battled in His soul. Yet we do know that He had thirty three years learning to trust His Father, to trust that part of Him that was not afraid and stood as light in the darkness. That voice in His heart that was more concerned with love for a broken world than fear of pain and death. A love and an obedience that overcame everything. Everything.

It is this love that lead Christ to the cross, to that hill where sin and death was defeated forevermore. It is this love that raised Him on the third day to glory. It is this love that is the embodiment of God's Spirit which He poured out on all. The love which comes from knowing the One who is love. The love which comes from the knowledge that you have been given before you ever asked, that you have been served before you ever moved a muscle, that He to whom you are called to be obedient was faithful to the last.

What is Easter about? Bunnies and chocolate eggs? Perhaps so (I do love those cream eggs). But maybe it's about something much deeper. Maybe it's about God taking a stand with those who would spit in His face. Maybe it's about a Saviour who's relationship with His Father paved the way for our own relationship with Him. Perhaps, if you look past the veil of pain, and crosses and nails, you will enter into a place where you find, simply, love. Real love.

Out.