What does resurrection mean?  What difference does belief in the resurrection of Jesus make to your life?

The Dalai Llama once asked this question of a Christian sitting next to him at a John Main Seminar.  This story struck me at the time of hearing about it as I know I would have been startled by such a question, to say nothing of being awe-struck by the illustrious holy man who asked it.

The question not only struck home but stuck as it were, and so every Easter I reflect upon it. What does the Resurrection mean? What difference does it make to my life?  The answer doesn’t come immediately like a bolt of lightning on Easter Sunday. Hence I am grateful for those six weeks of “Easter time”, waiting  for an epiphany of sorts to emerge. I have learnt to trust that the answer unfolds through my life experience.

Personal human resurrection experiences are emerging – in the friend who has returned to work after a long period of debilitating mental illness, in the spouse whose cancer has been declared cured, in the prisoner whose composure under gruelling cross examination is pointing to the hope of acquittal. Hope in the face of hopelessness is being birthed. Our world needs people of hope at present.

“The Risen Christ is the guarantee of what God will do with all of our crucifixions. Our hurts now become the home for our greatest hopes.” – Richard Rohr

Liz Kerr, Spiritual Director at JISA Faber, Brisbane.