Easter

On a visit to the village school I found myself helping with a science experiment. The children had to observe what happened to different objects when they were dropped in water; some sank and some floated. But the ping pong balls did not just float – when pushed down underwater and released they thrust back up to the surface with such force they burst right out of the water. Air is lighter than water and will always rise up through it; water cannot hold air down. That is one of the laws of nature.

I found myself thinking about the words of the Bible: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it," for "love is strong as death". That, I believe, is also one of the laws of the universe. Love will always overcome death. Love may be weighed down, crushed, submerged and buried but it will always rise up. Jesus Christ, the epitome of love, was crucified, died and was buried but the tomb could not hold him and on the third day he burst forth through the surface of death into the new life of the resurrection.

This is what Easter shows us: death and sin and hatred and war may often seem to us to have the ascendancy, but they cannot keep love down. There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance. Love will never come to an end. For God is love.

A.R.T.