Dave spoke this morning from Luke 23:39-43 about the penitent thief, crucified alongside Jesus. Many consider his salvation an affront since he could do nothing but believe in Jesus, but this incident shows us the mercy and compassion of the Lord and how while there is breath in our bodies, it’s not too late to be saved.

One of the thieves hurled insults at Jesus, but here we see that there can be grace in the unlikeliest of places. Like Saul, who persecuted the church but met with Jesus to become the apostle Paul, God steps in in miraculous ways to soften the other thief’s heart. He confesses his sin and the sinlessness of Christ, recognising that Christ’s death was unjust. His healthy fear of God means he suddenly recognises that he has blasphemed God and violated God’s laws. As he reaches out to Jesus, Jesus promises that he will be with Him in paradise. Forgiveness and restoration are freely offered to him and he is saved.

This incident often offends those who feel that ‘death-bed conversions’ make a mockery of God. The truth is we are all saved by grace through faith, and this is itself God’s gift to us. (Eph 2:8-10) We cannot save ourselves and need the mercy, grace, forgiveness and kindness of God, no matter when we become Christians. Even while dying, Jesus cared about this man’s eternal destiny; He cares so much about our world still. Jude 1:22-23 says, ‘Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear…’ May we speak God’s offer of forgiveness and hope to all we meet.

Over the past two days we have been busy spring cleaning. This has involved tidying, throwing away things we no longer need, cleaning and painting. Our thanks to all who have helped us.

My grandchildren came to visit this weekend, and as always, within seconds of their arrival, my house was turned upside down. Pens, paper, paint, glue and glitter were out. Sitckers and jewels adorned their artwork. Then toys were dug out of toyboxes and everything was scattered. Children bring with them mess and a whirlwind of activity. ‘Messy church’ acknowledges this as we allow creativity into church services, often giving children the opportunity to learn about Jesus in age-appropriate ways that inevitably involve mess!

I don’t much enjoy mess and yet I see that it’s an inevitable and necessary part of life. This doesn’t just apply to children, however. All of life is messy. Birth involves blood and bodily fluids; there will be many accidents and spillages throughout life (the tablecloth never stays very clean when my grandchildren are here, but they’re not the only ones who spill!) Relationships are often complicated; there is the pain and mess of our mistakes and failures which can radically affect our lives.

I find it reassuring that the Bible is so honest about the mess of life. Sin has messed up God’s original plans and we are unable to tidy up after ourselves and repair the damage. The Easter story reminds us that God sent a Saviour to deal with the mess of sin. His death was messy, painful and bloody. Afterwards, there was the mess of having to deal with a dead body over Passover (rather akin to dealing with death when the bureaucracy closes down for a Bank Holiday in this country.) I love how we see the women going to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday because there were still things to sort out and deal with. We often think of death as the end, but in actual fact, death brings with it the chaos of administration and the hectic busyness of sorting out a funeral service and dealing with the minutiate of life for those who are left behind. I can remember sitting in the funeral director’s the morning after my Mum died being shown a catalogue of funeral caskets and flower arrangements and wondering how any of these details mattered! Yet all of these things have to be dealt with; decisions have to be made.

Life is messy, often unpredictable, rarely comfortable and never as neat and tidy as we would like, however organised we are, however good we are at planning. But the truth is we have a God who was prepared to get His hands dirty to save us. He did not watch from afar. He did not leave us to get on with it. Easter is a time when we remember the painful intervention of death into the story, but that is not the end of the story. The resurrection of Jesus reminds us that there can be hope in our messy lives. I imagine the resurrection caused a lot of mess too – imagine the Roman guards having to explain why there was no body in the tomb! Imagine how hard it was for the Pharisee Saul to adapt his theology so that a man who died on a cross could actually be God’s Messiah! Mess is there, everywhere, but as everyone who does messy artwork knows, the process of creativity is messy but wonderful in what it achieves. May we embrace mess instead of trying to flee from it and understand that God is there with us (‘Immanuel’), even in the mess.

Garry continued his study on Joseph this morning, looking at his elevation or promotion in Gen 41:41-43 and seeing in this a type of Christ’s resurrection and elevation. After so many years of adversity, the tables were turned as one day Joseph was in prison and the next day he was exalted to a position alongside Pharaoh ,the ruler of Egypt – the ultimate ‘rags to riches’ story.

Phil 2:6-8 reminds us that Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage but accepted the lowliness of human form. He who had created the world (see John 1:1-3, 10, 14, 17) took on human flesh and humbled himself and became obedient, even to death on the cross. Just as it took years of humility before Joseph was elevated to this position of importance, so Jesus laid aside his glory, majesty and power in order to bring our salvation (see Matt 20:27-28).Yet the tremendous news of Easter is not simply that Jesus died for our sins, but that He is no longer dead! (1 Cor 15:3-8) God exalted Jesus to the highest place (see Phil 2:8-11) and we can be sure of the fact of the resurrection. There was an empty tomb (no body was ever produced), and as Paul tells us, Jesus appeared to many people on different occasions. They were not expecting this miracle, but they all consistently testified to it subsequently (many even being killed because of their testimony.)

The fact of the resurrection has an impact on our lives, however. Rom 1:1-4 tells us that Jesus was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. Just as Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the whole land of Egypt (Gen 41:41), so Jesus wants to be Lord of our lives (in charge!) God wants us to repent (Acts 17:29-31) and have a totally new direction for our lives. Then He fills our lives with new purpose (see 2 Cor 5:11-15). The knowledge of the resurrection brings responsibility and brings us to a place of daily surrender where we are called to live in the light of His resurrection.