Have you watched the Passion for Life DVD "Exploring the real meaning of Easter"? (There are still a few copies in the church porch, please help yourself).  In it the speaker, Rico Tice, likens someone who has never understood the resurrection of Jesus to someone who lives perpetually on Easter Saturday - like the disciples, full of doubts and fears, not knowing the joy which Jesus' resurrection brought.

When Jesus was crucified, his followers were discouraged and depressed.  So they dispersed.  The Jesus movement had all but stopped in it's tracks.  Then, after a short period of time, we see them abandoning  their occupations, re-gathering, and committing themselves to spreading a very specific message - that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, who died on a cross, returned to life, and was seen alive by many of them.

They were willing to spend the rest of their lives proclaiming this, without any pay off from a human point of view.  They faced a life of hardship.  They often went without food, slept exposed to the elements, were ridiculed, beaten and imprisoned.  Finally, most of them were executed in torturous ways.  For what?  For good intentions? For noble aspirations?  No.  Because they were convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that they had seen Jesus Christ alive from the dead.

Yes, people will die for their religious convictions if they sincerely believe they are true.  The modern suicide bomber will blow himself up believing it is a sure route to paradise.  Religious fanatics have done that throughout history.  Whilst they strongly believe in the tenets of their religion they don't however know it as a discernible fact.  It remains a matter of belief.

In stark contrast, the  first disciples were in a unique position to know for a fact that Jesus had returned from the dead.  They saw him, they touched him, they ate with him.  They knew he wasn't an hallucination or a legend.  It's one of those "all or nothing" sort of issues - either Jesus was or was not alive after death.  There's no half way house - it is an event which either did or did not happen.  Seeing the risen Jesus, knowing the facts, the disciples were willing to die for him.

Do you see the significance of that?  Those disciples didn't merely believe in the resurrection of Jesus, they knew whether it was fact or fiction.  If they didn't know it as a fact, the only alternative is that they concocted it as a brazen lie!  But had they  known it was a lie, would they have been willing to sacrifice their lives for it? Never!  Would they have transformed form utter despair to overflowing joy?  Never!  Nobody willingly dies for something that they know is false.  People might be willing  to die for something they  passionately believe to be true (even if they are mistaken) - but those early disciples of Jesus were not in that position.  The resurrection of Jesus claims to be a real event of history, so we must say that those early disciples were either brazen liars or they knew the facts!

Only one of those answers fits the evidence.  They proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus to their deaths for one reason alone: they knew it was true.

When you reach that monumental verdict, the implications come crashing in!  If Jesus overcame the grave, he is still alive and available for you to encounter.  If Jesus conquered death, he can open the door of eternal life for you too.  If he has divine powers then he rightfully deserves your allegiance and worship.

Worth exploring this Easter.  Help yourself to one of those DVDs.  Come along to one of our Easter services.

With warmest greetings

Simon.