The writer Jasper Rees was driving one day and listening to the radio. On came a piece of music that he knew very well but hadn’t heard for some time. It featured the french horn which he used to play but hadn’t touched for many years. Something happened while he listened. As often happens with music he was moved in a deep place and later he wiped the dust off his french horn and began playing again. Like many people before him he learned that it is never to late to start again.
This time of year is often seen as nature making a fresh start. Spring is traditionally thought of as a time when the earth comes to life again with more colour, more warmth and more light. The poets have seen in this signs of hope for the world. If nature can make a fresh start then perhaps people can too. Mistakes are made, faults persist, but perhaps this can be put behind us and a new beginning made.
It was the promise of this which drew many people to Jesus. It didn’t matter where people stood in the eyes of the world, he gave them hope that things could change. Whatever people had done, whatever their inner darkness, Jesus made them feel they mattered, that God’s love was going out to them, and that motivated them towards change.
This work of renewal was such a big part of Jesus’ ministry that even on the cross it persisted. One of the men who was crucified with with him wanted an assurance that there was hope even for him beyond death. Jesus gave him that: ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’ Even when Jesus himself was suffering his heart was going out to someone in need and even if that man would not enjoy a fresh start in this life there was still paradise.
This hope is at the heart of the Easter message and it is my privilege to have seen it making an impact on people’s lives. In my association with the Preshal Trust in Govan I have met so many people whose lives were coming apart through addiction to drugs or alcohol. The promises of Jesus has given them the strength to make a fresh start and to go into the future with new values, new priorities and new expectations.
The Easter message assures us that that the Christ who made a difference two thousand years ago is present still to open up the possibility of a fresh start to the whole of humankind.
