⁴⁶ ‘So you see’, he said, ‘that scripture foretells the sufferings of the Messiah and his rising from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and declares that in his name repentance bringing the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are to be witnesses to it all. ⁴⁹I am sending on you the gift promised by my Father; wait here in this city until you are armed with power from above.’

⁵⁰Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and blessed them with uplifted hands; ⁵¹and in the act of blessing he parted from them. ⁵²And they returned to Jerusalem full of joy, ⁵³and spent all their time in the temple praising God.

Luke 24: 46 – end – The Revised English Bible

Photo courtesy of Pexels – Brett Sayles

If we wish to be Christians, we must be prepared for an emotional roller-coaster at Easter.

On Good Friday, my blog suggested looking at the cross and imagining hell. Hell as Peter experienced it, when Christ looked at him that fateful day.

Today is the day of the empty tomb. After our introspection and self-criticism of the last couple of days, we are now forgiven.

Forgiven for everything that we’ve ever done to sadden our Lord. Let that sink in.

For today, we get a new beginning!

And as we look into the fact of Christ, instead of deep sadness, we now see a smile that, this time, denotes forgiveness and love. In short, it denotes heaven.

Christ is risen!

And I wish joy to you and to all readers of this blog, on this most holy of days.

Happy Easter!

Lord Jesus, we cannot live without your forgiveness. Receiving it is the most valuable gift you could ever give to us. Amen