Garry preached from John 18:28-38 last night, perhaps a slightly unusual reading for Easter Sunday in that it is the conversation between Pilate and Jesus before the Crucifixion. In this conversation, Pilate asked Jesus (probably somewhat rhetorically!) ‘What is truth?’

Nowadays, truth is often thought of as relative and the notion of absolute truth is rejected by many. Some truths are indeed relative (which side of the road you drive on depends on the country you are in, for example), but this should not blind us to the fact that God is the ultimate truth. We are disillusioned by the lack of truthfulness we see in others (politicians, journalists, the police) and therefore often find it difficult to believe God. Jesus taught, however, that God is truth (John 14:6, John 16:13) and that the devil’s native language is lies (John 8:44-45).

The fact of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead is not a relative truth, something that it’s O.K. for me to believe in if it makes me feel better, but it’s equally O.K. for you not to believe in if you don’t want to. It’s an absolute truth, based on God’s character. People often dismiss its accuracy nowadays by saying that people in Bible times ‘didn’t know any better’, but the fact remains that people were astounded and scornful of the truth that anyone could rise from the dead even then! The reaction of crowds to Paul’s preaching (Acts 17:22-32, Acts 26:19-27) show that this was an ‘unbelievable truth’ even in Biblical times. Moreover, it is clear from the Gospel narratives that the disciples, despite Jesus’s prophecies about His death and resurrection, were definitely not expecting this news! They fled at the Crucifixion, fearful for their own lives, afraid of what would happen, not expecting anything further from their crucified leader. Even when confronted with the risen Saviour, they took some convincing! (see Thomas’s reaction, for example!) The total transformation of the disciples from cowering, defeated wretches to bold, confident witnesses was the result of the actual fact of the Resurrection, not to some vague philosophical idea! That same transformation is available to us as we meet with the risen Lord, for the truth will set us free.

Stephen preached on the ’empty Easter promises’ this morning. He said that as a child, he had preferred Easter eggs with sweets or chocolates inside, eggs that rattled with the promise of an extra surprise! Nowadays, all the ‘extras’ seem to be on the outside!

Acts 13:29 talks about the empty cross: “when they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.” The cross, following the death of Jesus, was empty, but in actual fact this represented the full salvation purchased for us by Christ.

Mark 16:4-7 tells the story of the empty tomb. This gives us the promise of eternal life, for it shows that death does not have the final word: ‘death in vain forbid Him rise’. In Christ, we can have fullness of life.

Luke 24:12 talks of the empty burial clothes in the empty tomb. Our Lord is alive! Because of this, we can have a full and living relationship with our Lord.

These apparently empty Easter promises actually give us everything we need:
(1) a full salvation
(2) everlasting life
(3) a living relationship with our Lord.

Easter Sunday is probably the greatest day in the Christian calendar, the day when we remember the amazing resurrection of Christ from the dead. In the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see the heart of the gospel and the providence of God; we see His love, mercy and grace, not to mention His almighty power!

Christ the Lord is risen today,
Hallelujah!
Sons of man and angels say,
Hallelujah!
Raise your joys and triumphs high,
Hallelujah!
Sing ye heavens and earth reply!

All creation sings,
“Hallelujah! The King is risen!
Glory to the name of the risen Lord!”
Let all the earth proclaim,
“Hallelujah! Our sins forgiven!
Glory to your name forevermore!” (‘Risen Today’, Aaron Shust)
‘Risen Today’, Aaron Shust

As we consider all that Christ did for us on the Cross, a topic that will surely never be exhausted, even in eternity, let’s remember that He gives us strength to face each day and the power to overcome.

“When the path is daunting
And every step exhausting
I’m not alone
I’m not alone, no, no.
I feel you draw me closer
All these burdens on my shoulder
I’m not alone, I’m not alone
You pull me me from this place

Hallelujah
You carry me every day
You carry me all all the way
Hallelujah
You carry me to the
You carry me to the cross
The cross
You carry me to the
You carry me to the cross.” (Kutless, ‘Carry Me To The Cross’)
‘Carry Me To The Cross’, Kutless

Every weekday morning, barring illness or Bank Holidays, I drag my weary and protesting body out of bed, usually when it’s still dark outside, in order to go swimming. I usually swim for about an hour each day, managing 2km in that time: 80 long lengths, each measuring 25 metres.

It takes a fair amount of commitment to do this, day in, day out. And at some point in that hour, without fail, I will have the sort of internal dialogue that goes like this:
‘I can’t do this again./ Yes, you can./ No, it’s too much. It hurts. I want to stop./ Keep going. It will get better./ But my lungs are going to burst./ Don’t be stupid. You think that every morning!/ Yes, but it really hurts today. I want to stop./ Keep going. You can do it./ No, not today. I can’t./ Yes, you can. It will get better. You did it before. You can do it again./ No, it’s too much. I want to stop. I’ll never make 80 today. Why am I doing this, anyway?/ It helps keep your blood sugar and blood pressure under control. It’s good for you./ But it hurts so much./ Get on with it. You’ll survive.’

That internal conversation, pretty reminiscent of so many I hold with myself each day, can occur at any point in the hour. Sometimes it’s near the start, as I struggle to get into a rhythm. Sometimes it’s in the middle, as I feel I just can’t carry on. Sometimes it’s near the end when my limbs are tiring. But I’ve learnt that if you carry on swimming, moving the arms and legs and breathing steadily, no matter how bad you feel, you get there in the end. What really matters is the commitment to continue, the awareness that feelings are by no means a reliable guide to anything in this life. Some days, swimming is pure pleasure and I glide through the water effortlessly. Most days, it is work. Different factors affect how I feel about it: mood, tiredness, the water levels, the water temperature, the other swimmers, all kinds of things. But I’ve found that how I feel about it rarely affects the outcome. My times don’t often vary much, whether it feels good or bad. My blood sugars and blood pressure are helped by it, whether I feel virtuous or not. The key is attitude and perseverance.

Luke tells us ‘As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.’ (Luke 9:51) The NKJV translates ‘resolutely’ as ‘steadfastly’. There are echoes of Isaiah’s prophecy ‘For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.’ (Is 50:7) It can’t have been easy for Jesus to go to Jerusalem, knowing what awaited Him there. As we remember the battle He went through in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He wrestled with the desire to find an alternative method of salvation (and how often I wish there were an alternative method to keeping fit than exercise!), we are ultimately so grateful that He came to the place where He said “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (Matt 26:42)

How did Jesus come to this place? How do we come to the place where we persevere, no matter how we feel? The answer has to lie in keeping the end goal in sight. For me with swimming, that means remembering the benefits of exercise to my health, when I would rather lie in bed and sleep. Hebrews 12:2 tells us ‘For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.‘ Jesus endured the cross, with all its agony and pain, because He knew the joy that would be His – and ours! – as a result of it. There was, therefore, for Him – and there must be for us too – no turning back.

This is my heart cry
Though none go with me
The cross before me
The world behind me

This is my anthem
My heart for Your fame
My every move bring
Glory to Your name (‘No Turning Back’, Chris Tomlin)
‘No Turning Back’, Chris Tomlin

This is a grammar lesson which, if you persevere, tells us a lot about prayer.

The verb is that part of a sentence which affirms action or state of being. Younger pupils define it as a ‘doing’ word.

Verbs have voices. Voice is ‘that property of the verbal idea which indicates how the subject is related to the action’ (Dana & Mantey, ‘A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament’ P 155). In English, we nowadays have two main verbal voices: the active and the passive. The active voice describes the subject as producing the action or representing the state expressed by the verbal idea: the dog barks, the cat miaows, the man ran, I am writing this blog post. It has various tenses to describe when the action is done (yesterday I blogged about the Family Service, tomorrow I will do something else, by Friday I will have written masses of lesson plans etc.)

The passive voice is that use of the verb which denotes the subject as receiving the action: the cat was chased by the dog, the lessonplans will be written.

But in Greek, there is another voice called ‘the middle voice’. Dana and Mantey say ‘it is impossible to describe it adequately or accurately in terms of English idiom, for English knows no approximate parallel’ (ibid, P 156). The middle voice is “that use of the verb which describes the subject as participating in the results of the action.” (Active – I counsel; passive – I am counselled; middle – I take counsel).

With me so far? I’ve known these grammar things for years, but today when reading ‘The Contemplative Pastor’, Eugene Peterson made a link between grammar and prayer which caused my eyes to widen in wonder. I apologise if this doesn’t have the same effect on you, but I do believe that we are able to learn spiritual truths from every aspect of life!

“In prayer, I do not control the action. That is a pagan concept of prayer, putting the gods to work by my incantations or rituals. I am not controlled by the action. That is a Hindu concept of prayer in which I slump passively into the impersonal and fated will of gods and goddesses. I enter into the action begun by another, my creating and saving Lord, and find myself participating in the results of the action. I neither do it, nor have it done to me; I will to participate in what is willed.” (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Contemplative Pastor’ P 103)

He goes on to say “Prayer and spirituality feature participating, the complex participation of God and the human, His will and our wills. We neither manipulate God (active voice) nor are we manipulated by God (passive voice). We are involved in the action and participate in its results but do not control or define it (middle voice.) Prayer takes place in the middle voice.” (ibid, P 104)

The relationship between our wills and God’s will in prayer is at the forefront of our thinking as we meditate on the Garden of Gethsemane as we prepare for Easter. We think about Jesus praying ‘not my will, but Yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). We don’t always understand how human free will and God’s sovereignty sit together. But maybe that’s because English has no ‘middle voice’. We think things either have to be active or passive; we don’t understand another way. But clearly there is another way: “At our human and Christian best we pray in the middle voice at the centre between active and passive, drawing from them as we have need and occasion, but always uniquely and artistically ourselves, ‘participating in the results of the action.’ ” (ibid, P 105).