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Four short reflections for easter – #1

Neil Robinson has written four reflections for Holy Week. Neil says:

“These reflections came to me this morning at the start of Holy Week, that time of dark days descending to Good Friday followed by the triumph of the Easter Day resurrection and glorious hope. I am struck by some parallels between the present days and the events remembered this week.”

#1: Delayed Gratification

“Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no-one will take away your joy.”                         

John 16:22 NIV

We have a holiday booking to fly from Birmingham to Lanzarote for a week of holiday on 15th April and the travel company is keen to change this booking to a later date because the holiday package has been affected by travel restrictions due to the coronavirus. They still want us to enjoy their fantastic service, wonderful hotel and all the perks so they will give a £100 discount if we delay what we have been looking forward to. These are unprecedented times for travel companies and their very future is at stake. If everybody wants their money back the company will probably fold. They are offering us a choice in their own best interests.

As we begin the journey of Holy Week we see the pain of rejection -rejection of the one who came to save, not because there was something in it for Him. Now our holiday booking can be managed to get us out of trouble. Jesus journey was managed to get him into trouble and us out of it because he loves us that much. By faith and the grace of God we have the Christian life here and now on this earth even as we live under social restrictions. Along with that and because of that same faith and the grace of God we have the assurance of a life beyond the grave. That “hope that is steadfast and certain” was bought for us at the end of Holy Week by Jesus death on the cross and his glorious resurrection even in the dark days we are experiencing. What delayed gratification are you looking forward to? Freedom from coronavirus will be great but can it compare to eternal life?

“Here for a season, then above. O Lamb of God, I come.”