Breaking news - 'Jesus was not killed on the cross, and he did not come back to life’. Imagine reading those headlines in the Jerusalem Gazette on the Thursday after those horrifying crucifixions, But surely, I hear many of you cry, Christians have always said he was killed, and he did come back!

Well, yes and no. Jesus once said: “No one takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own free will.” (John 10:18) The authorities thought they we just getting rid of him by killing him but Jesus was, in fact, running the whole show and deliberately offering his life, as a sacrifice.

He was taking on to himself all the wrong of the world that causes God such pain, and taking it into death.

And because he chose to go there, it could not keep him there.

And so, on that third day, on Sunday, he was indeed alive - very much alive, in fact more alive than we can imagine.

But he had not come back to the old life of pain and suffering, he had been raised on to the new resurrection life that is God’s hope for everyone for eternity.

That is what makes Easter so amazing!

Jesus demonstrated the truth of the most famous verse in the Bible: ‘For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life’. (John 3:16) And that is resurrection life in the way Jesus began to show his friends back then, and still shows his friends to this day.

Have a fantastic Easter!

The Rev Ray de Vial Hon Asst Minister St Thomas, Kendal