Across the Easter weekend we consider the stories about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as they have been handed down to us in the Bible.
On the night when Jesus celebrated the Passover Feast with his friends he held up a piece of bread and after giving thanks said, “This is my body.” The next day Jesus was tormented and tortured until he offered up his last breath and the body of Christ hung lifeless on the cross. His friends lovingly carried that body to a borrowed tomb and laid the body in the burial place. By the Sunday morning, the body of Christ had been transformed by the mystery of the resurrection. It must have been somewhat changed because Mary didn’t recognise him at first. The body was the same and yet different, recognisable yet veiled. Many of the friends of Jesus saw him, although they did not always recognise him right away.
After he had appeared to many of them Jesus went away from view and entrusted to his followers the task of being the Body of Christ. I like the words of St Augustine which are sometimes quoted when the bread and wine are served for Holy Communion.
“Let us receive the Body of Christ, let us become what we receive, the Body of Christ.”
The work of Jesus continues as the Church carries on the business of being The Body of Christ, a gift to a hurting and broken world, new life where despair and decay have taken hold, a story to nourish and inspire us for our life together.
Happy Easter!
Kaye
Click here for an Easter message from the Queensland Synod moderator Rev David Baker.
