Dear Friends, 

"There ain't gonna be no Easter this year," a student remarked to his friend.
"Why not?" He was asked incredulously.
"They found the body," the student replied.

Now that is what it would take to disprove the Resurrection, because the weight of evidence for the Resurrection is - in historical and legal terms - overwhelming.  Time and again, eminent lawyers and historians have weighed the evidence - "according to the laws of legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history" (Simon Greenleaf, Harvard Law Professor); "If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable, according to the canons of historical research, to conclude that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered in literary sources, epigraphy or archaeology that would disprove this statement" (Paul L. Maier, Professor of Ancient History).

The fly in the ointment, in a scientific age, is that - despite the truth of the previous paragraph - we do not have a scientific proof (or explanation) for the Resurrection.  That holds many people back from faith.  Yet many of us, of an otherwise scientific bent of mind, are still prepared to believe in - indeed, to base our lives on - two thousand year old witness statements.  Why ?  Because those ancient witnesses were prepared to die for what they proclaimed (just like Jesus before them); possibly all the Apostles except John did this, and certainly countless thousands of others. 

That is their graphic testimony, not just to the fact of Jesus' Resurrection, but also to their faith in his promises.  Jesus promised that those who were prepared to lose their lives for his sake would keep them, and those who were not would lose them - not, of course, referring to our lives on earth, so much as to the totality of our lives - here and beyond the grave.  Part of what resurrection means is that there is a continuity between who we are now and who we will be then; for Jesus, this is complete, but for the rest of us there must be various degrees of change:  now, we are all flawed; then we will be flawless, with all our impurities removed; but we will still be recognisably the same persons.

Sorry to go all metaphysical on you, but Easter really does go beyond bunnies, butterflies, spring flowers and chocolate eggs.  Each of these might be made to point to Resurrection, but all they can point to is but a pale reflection of the Easter truth.  Life does not just go on, as in new generations of plants and animals.  Christians can proclaim and celebrate that, just like anybody else, but they also proclaim and celebrate the meaning and significance of each individual life.  Each of us is - and always will remain - uniquely precious before God.  That is the true meaning of the Resurrection, and it touches on every aspect of our lives, from conception to death - something our consumer society seems incapable of grasping.  Unless we can, we will die.

"Alleluia !  Christ is risen !"  "He is risen indeed !  Alleluia !"