The First Fruits of Spring
Winter has been long this year. Cold, wet, windy (and sometimes even snowy!) walks. Stuck inside, watching out the window, staring at the grey ski and wondering when willthe dark clouds part and the sun begin to burst through.
Every year I am waiting for spring to come. I search for the green shoots signalling that change is coming, I long to hear the sound of birds chirping and lambs bleating. However, this year I have even more desire to see spring come, for the sun to come out and walks in the park to feel like a joyful choice rather than a desperate necessity. Spring is a transitionary season from winter to summer; we watch the bare, empty trees come to life again as they fill with blossom and prepare fruit for the harvest. Even though spring is never the end goal, there is so much excitement when we see the first hints that something is changing. A green shoot is a promise that the new life is growing, and the fruit will come.
My love of spring is reflected in my love of Easter. I don’tunderstand why the date for celebrating Easter changes every year, or why we celebrate Easter almost a month later this year in Romania where I live than England where I am from.But I do know that Easter is such a fitting celebration for spring; not just because we search for eggs or paint pictures of chicks, bunnies or lambs, but because the meaning of Easter is new life.
Easter Sunday is the great celebration of new life when Jesus rose from the dead. New life like a green shoot or the first fruit from a tree. Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t the end goal, it wasn’t the result of the harvest that everyone has been waiting for. It was instead the sign of a future harvest, the promise of new life for everyone who puts their trust in him.
For me, this promise of new life gives me hope for the future. More hope than any green shoot or vaccine could bring mebecause I know that autumn will come round again, and at the end of the day, 1 out of 1 people still die. But Jesus’ resurrection ushered in a completely new kingdom; one where love and justice reign, where there will be no more pain, sickness, tears or death, where we will be united with one another and with God who created us.
So as we celebrate Easter and take joy in the signs of spring, will we put our trust in the changing of the seasons or medical expertise, or will we look beyond the immediate and into the future and put our trust in the one who already knows the future and has promised that if we put our trust in him, then we too will be raised from the dead?