Sharing Easter Grace
Eggs, crosses, remembrances, and celebrations – Easter – the most important event in our Christian calendar. Every year the secular ‘Easter’ starts earlier – chocolate eggs in supermarkets just after Australia Day and Hot Cross Buns very soon after. The commercialisation of Easter is crass and the pressure to buy into it grows every year.
Of course eggs and buns are only part of the traditions that have been built around Easter and they can be lightly connected to the real meaning of Easter while other traditions actually help us to express our deep thankfulness to Jesus for all that He went through and then established for us – Hope with Grace.
For example, on Good Friday, you may be one of many who will participate in the ‘Way of the Cross’ or ‘Stations of the Cross’ walks, which give opportunity to meditate on the significance of Christ’s suffering on the Cross. Many have shared profound spiritual awakenings and experiences during these walks, giving them a deeper sense of celebration on Easter Sunday morning. These are just two of the ways we can meditate on the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus and embrace His grace.
So, at Easter, we remember and celebrate what Jesus has done for us. He has given us hope and undeserved love and grace. In our humanness, in our crowded lives, we can use this special time to comprehend and accept these priceless gifts once again.
“Jesus Christ left the splendour and glory of His home to come and endure the weakness of human flesh and experience the suffering of crucifixion unto death, that we might endure the weakness of human flesh and experience suffering unto death with a vision to join Him forever in the splendour and glory of His home.” (Wilson, 2017, p. 226)
What a privilege to share this understanding with our school students and families, and with our school colleagues. We recognise our weakness but more so, we recognise the way He meets us there to help us, knowing the full extent of our humanness.
When our students ask questions along the lines of ‘Does God care when we are hurting?’ and ‘Can Jesus be true for you but not for me?’ we are being given opportunities to share Jesus, to show His compassion. We can have conversations with them in ways that speak into their hearts and souls.
We are being given opportunities to be compassionate – just like Jesus – and share His grace. As we talk with our students around these types of questions, we start to hear the real unspoken questions.
For example, sometimes they ask:
- Why does our world continually experience hatred, abuse and war?
- Why do people hurt and alienate each other?
- How do we know that God really cares?
Sometimes it’s an underlying situation in their lives nudging them try to find the answer to these questions. Rebecca McLaughlin has recently written a book titled “10 Questions every teen should ask (and answer) about Christianity” which touches on questions just like these. In her answer to the ‘whether God really cares’ question, she speaks to the heart of the matter.
“In Jesus, we find the one person who knows all our heartache and our pain. Jesus was abandoned by His closest friends, beaten by strangers, stripped, abused, and hung up on a cross to die. If you’ve ever been let down or teased or bullied or felt alone or got terribly sick, Jesus knows how you feel…. And He weeps with us when we weep”. (p. 163)
What a privilege to share this kind of understanding with our students, giving them the opportunity to explore in their hearts more of who Jesus is and ‘how it all works’.
Jesus said, “Be compassionate as God the Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36).
What a blessing this Easter to share Jesus and His compassion with our students and their families, through both the hardest of times and in celebration.
Have a blessed Easter! As we share Easter eggs, hot cross buns and special traditions in our school communities this Easter, may we also share Easter grace and may each student see Jesus, through all we say and do.
References
McLaughlin, R. (2021). 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity. Crossway
Nouwen, H.J.M., McNeill, D.P. and Morrison, D.A. (2006) Compassion. Doubleday Publishers
Wilson, J.C. (2017). The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can’t Get Their Act Together. Baker Books.