Easter and the Strange Case of the Cheshire Cat

‘How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone telling them?’

Romans 10:14

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When I woke this morning there seemed to be an unusual hush in the forest around our house, even our local tribe of usually noisy Kookaburras were quiet, sensing something different about this day perhaps?

As usual I turned on the TV news. A great range of topics was being covered. Not surprisingly perhaps, there was a significant coverage of the war in middle east, then there was an item on the  current Artemis spaceship mission to the moon, then a range of issues pertaining to this long weekend, for example warnings to holiday drivers to drive carefully. Much time was devoted to local (in my case Sydney, NSW) issues especially the Royal Easter Show where the big issue was the 40,000 meat pies that are expected to be sold, and no doubt eaten! After half an hour there was the mandatory sports report, particularly the latest football results, player transfers and coach sackings.

Then at one point I heard the news reader say, “In a moment we are going to look at how people are celebrating . . . ‘ I waited with bated breath, surely this was going to be the item I was waiting for? But no. He continued with ‘at the new Sydney fish market’!  Much time was spent on a discussion of the apparently 650 tons of fish that would be sold.

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As I listened to that news bulletin this morning an image came into my mind, that of the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s ‘The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland’. The Cat that slowly disappeared before Alice’s eyes leaving no trace except the Cat’s smile.

It no longer surprises me, but it is still noteworthy, that this day, and we should remind ourselves that it is Good Friday after all, a national news bulletin fails to mention why we have Easter or what Good Friday is all about. Most of all it failed to mention the name of Jesus, who we remember on this day of all days died an excruciating death on the Cross to pay for our sins and to restore us to God.

The disappearance of Christianity from public life, a trend particularly shown up by what news bulletins focus on this Easter weekend, carries with it the loss of the Biblical world view which founded and shaped the western civilization from which flowed the multitude of blessings even our God-rejecting society continues to enjoy,

Easter has become like the Cheshire Cat, slowly, indeed almost completely, disappearing from view, even the smile because I am not sure God is smiling.

Of course, more than the usual number of those alleging Christian faith will be in church services this weekend but ticking that box will do nothing to reverse society’s decades-long spiritual and moral decline (for more on this see here). The only thing that will achieve that is for Christians to wake up and start being the bearers of Christ into the networks of people in their daily lives. The reality is that very few new disciples of Christ are made inside the walls of church buildings! That is why, no matter what other names they have, every Christian should be called Christopher, meaning ‘Christ -bearer’!

On Good Friday Christians rejoice as we remember the wonderful and priceless gift that Jesus died to give us. However, Jesus dearly wants to bless all those in our networks with the same gift. How can they receive it? They can’t if they don’t know about it (as is the case with the majority of biblically illiterate Australians), a point made by the apostle Paul with his question-

             ‘And how can they hear without someone telling them?’

The answer to Paul’s question is; they can’t unless Christ’s people tell them! That is tell them the greatest story ever told, about the greatest man that ever lived, who made the greatest offer ever made!