Transcript
The American poet Sylvia Plath died by her own hand after a brief and tragic life and she lies buried in a churchyard in England and on her gravestone are inscribed these words, ‘even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus has been planted’. Now, those words are taken from the sacred texts of India. But they also speak the truth of Easter. There are always the fierce flames if we look at the world as it is at the moment where violence seems to make no room for peace, where division abolishes the common good or any concern for it, and when lies take the place of truth. These are the fierce flames that seem to be consuming the world at this time and there may be fierce flames in your own life personally. Now, Easter says that in the midst of all the fierce flames whether personal or global, the golden lotus has been planted. Jesus is taken down from the cross and is planted in the earth. He’s laid in a tomb. But Easter also says that the golden lotus hasn’t just been planted, the golden lotus has also bloomed. Because Jesus who is laid in the earth is also Jesus who rises from the tomb, who rises from the dead as the golden lotus that nothing and no one can destroy. So we the Christians have seen the golden lotus bloom in the midst of all the fierce flames, we say, we have seen the Lord. Now, if that is true, that we’ve seen Him with the eyes of faith, then hope becomes not only possible, but it becomes absolutely necessary. So in this Easter moment we say that hope is our life, our life in Christ, and without that hope, there is only the death, there is only the fierce flames. So Christ is risen, Christ is truly risen. Hallelujah! A Happy Easter to you all!