Many in the hierarchy of the Christian Church and many others in the pew were greatly disturbed at the news of the ‘holy’ observances not permitted in the city of Jerusalem during the ‘Holy Week’, more importantly the observance of the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter.
Closer home in India, on account of discrimination based on descent and work, many are unable to enter places of worship, nor hold offices considered ‘sacred’ in faith communities for many centuries. For many among us who are upset that the Holy observances did not take place in Jerusalem, it does not resonate a similar reality in our own neighbourhoods. For far too many, Easter is something that happened long time ago.
In the closing chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, the writer of the Fourth Gospel attempts to bring Easter closer home to distraught disciples – from the formal table in the upper room to a dusty seaside, from the prescribed menu of the traditional Passover to a localised cuisine of fish and bread, significantly at day break on the ‘Third day’ – a deliberate shift from the Exodus of the past to the way forward post-resurrection when death has been conquered and life shared in more localised and tangible ways than the symbolic observance of the Passover.
The annual observance of Easter challenges us to bring the garden experience with the resurrected Jesus, the experiences of the disciples with Jesus on the road to Emmaus and the meal thereafter, and the revelation behind closed doors, into the neighbourhoods of every human person and all of creation in localised tangible ways. This is the challenge of the times; to bring ‘life in abundance’ in local and tangible ways, more importantly into the neighbourhood of conflicts and crime, wars and want, depravity and dispossession.
‘We have hit them hard, we have obliterated their capabilities, they will not be able to rise anymore’ are words that are not exclusive to any one context, in one corner of the World. They resonate everywhere including in our own times and in our own contexts. This is the context of the need for Easter coming closer home. However, in the process of realising the power of the cross and resurrection locally, ‘donkey-riders’ and ‘christ-communities’ continue to be framed and pounded hard; dispossessed to depravation, so that they will abandon the cause.
Thanks be to God, that ‘in-christ’ we are more than conquerors; and the ‘meek’ shall inherit the land while the dispossessed will be repaid here a hundredfold. To realise this we need to work to bring Easter closer home. We need to celebrate all ‘resurrection experiences’ everywhere of individuals and communities coming to life, however small or short-lived they may be. Heeding to the call “feed my sheep” we have to work out tangible mission strategies to help sustain those resurrection experiences of individuals and communities.
May Resurrection day 2026 challenge us to bring Easter closer home Today. May all christ-communities work out tangible ways for neighbourhoods to move from cross to resurrection, through ascension and to the experience of the power of the unconquerable indwelling Spirit of Pentecost.
May this day mark a real ‘Easter’ for everyone and everything around us, and thus for us too . . .
Happy Easter . . .
Rev. Asir Ebenezer
General Secretary
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