EASTER: But the bird will sing.

What does Easter mean to us in this specific season of 2023?

In two weeks’ time, we will again travel to visit our beloved family in two nations that we love dearly; Lebanon and Syria.  Easter is especially near to our hearts at this time, knowing that we will soon encounter our Crucified Christ once again in a visible and tangible way.

This morning I was reminded of an encounter in Egypt many years ago.  One of the Christian leaders we met shared this story to illustrate the attitude of many believers in the Middle East today:

“There was once a bird that would sing as soon as the sun rose and he would continue singing throughout the day until the sun set again. Then one day, the bird became blind. Not knowing whether it was day or night, he stopped singing. But the desire to sing soon overwhelmed his blindness and the bird decided that he would sing whether it was day or not.”

The leader concluded with these words: “Like the blind bird, we will sing! Regardless of whether we can see through the darkness or not, we will sing.”

This attitude was reflected by all the leaders we met.

In the PHYSICAL REALM, darkness seems to overwhelm a nation like Syria at the moment. A twelve-year war, sanctions from the West, a tragic earthquake, and continued attacks by Israel have blinded many into a despair of darkness and a hopeless blindness.  But the Church will sing.

In the SPIRITUAL REALM, we are witnessing the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies. We are witnessing breakthroughs on so many levels and the witness of the Church, as the singing continues to pierce the darkness, are softening hearts and changing lives.  Syria is at a crossroads, with an ever-present atmosphere of uncertainty, hopelessness, despair, and darkness. But the Church will sing.

So, what does Easter mean to you in this specific season of your life?

Listen to Paul:

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Galatians 6:14  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

• Paul was not only saved by the cross but also transformed through the cross.
• He was not only a sinner with a renewed heart but also a follower with a renewed mind.
• The world had no attraction to him, and neither had he any great attraction to it.

This is a mindset that all Christians should embrace, especially over Easter, when we contemplate the cross of Christ.

The challenge of Easter is not only to rejoice in the transactional benefits of a crucified and resurrected Saviour but to fully grasp the transformational power of what happened on the cross.  The ability to sing in the dark does not only come by being born again but by being transformed into a Christ consciousness – crucified, buried and resurected

For most of us, our first introduction to Easter was a “transactional” one.

We received the Scripture in 1 Timothy 2:3-6 with great joy as we were told that “God wants all people to be saved and that this happens through one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people”.

We entered faith with a deep love for a Saviour who “gave Himself” and “paid the price” to become the sacrificial Lamb on our behalf.

But the full meaning of Easter lies far deeper than just a transaction, it calls followers to be transformed into changed and mature disciples.

The process of transformation involves moving from loving Christ because He performed a transaction on the cross to being transformed into the likeness of the One who performed the transaction.

What God desires of His Church, and what needs to be explored over Easter, is for us to be transformed.

If we do not mature from transactional believers into transformed followers we will ultimately ignore Jesus’s lifestyle and preaching, because if we only see the cross as a transaction then all we really need Jesus for is the last three days or three hours of His life.

Richard Rohr refers to this attitude as simply having an “evacuation plan for the next world”.

But the Church will sing.

To fully experience Easter will require an understanding of the life of Christ and not just an appreciation of the death of Christ.   We need to move beyond salvation into transformation. 

Easter was more than just a proclamation of what He did . It was an affirmation of who He was.  And so it should be for us  as well – in the midst of load-shedding, corruption, suspicion and fear.

AND the church will sing!