Easter Hope for teachers
A message from our chair of trustees, Rev Tim Coles
In a world where Christianity is increasingly marginalised, and in a working environment where the views of Christians are often questioned, mocked, or ignored; I want to offer a few thoughts to faithful Christian teachers from the Easter story.
Firstly, I want to assure you that whilst Friday may be painful, Sunday is coming. Jesus knew what it was to stand up for what was right, to present a message that was unpopular and it got him arrested and killed. He was deprived of sleep, accused of false charges, handed over to be killed when there was no crime committed, and tried by a weak ruler who gave into popular opinion. As a result he was beaten to within an inch of his life, had the beard pulled from his face, spat at, jostled, forced to carry his own means of execution, nailed to a cross and lifted up (probably naked) for all to sneer at and watch as the life was literally squeezed out of his body. Yet he submitted to this as his Father’s will knowing that in so doing, sin, death and hell would be defeated.
Unlike Christ, we are not able to pay for sin. But like Christ, we are called to stand for something and are sometimes mis-understood and even hounded for believing as we do. Dear teaching colleague… we may, feel as though we’re on the ‘losing side’, but victory IS coming and Easter assures us of it- see 1 Cor 15: 22 “For just as in Adam all die, so in Christ will all live. (see also John 15:8, Matthew 5: 10-12 and Matthew 10:22)
The life of Christ in us, which of course as we stick close to our Saviour, will also shine out from us. It inspires us to persevere, guides us as to the issues to stand up for, instructs us what and when to speak, and comforts us when unjustly treated. Amazingly, because Christ is in you, he goes where you go, and he speaks and acts through us (Philip. 2:13 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him). So never be afraid and never give up, because victory is coming.
Secondly, I want to assure you that Christ’s resurrection power is available to all Christians now, not just when we die to translate us to eternal life. The Apostle Paul talks of wanting to know ‘the power of Christ’s resurrection’ (Philip 3:10), talking of it as an attainable reality. In his prayer for the Ephesians in 1: 15-23 he is praying that they and we will know ‘the hope to which he has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance.. and his incomparably great power for us who believe… the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead’. The agency of Christ’s power comes through the work of the Holy Spirit (See Acts 1:8), and as the verse continues, the function of the power is to enable us to be effective witnesses.
The book of Acts amply demonstrates how ‘ordinary people’ did amazing things under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Gosh, they didn’t even have the internet and yet how they advanced the Kingdom of God!
The final aspect to Christ’s power in us that I would highlight, is that which Jesus himself speaks of as he commissions disciples in Luke 10: 19: “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”
Christ’s Mission was to defeat Satan (1 John 3:8) and this work has been entrusted also to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. We defeat Satan when we speak truth to lies, when we show grace to intolerance, when we respond with love to hate and when we forgive those who really should know better. All of these things, we can all do.
So during this Easter period, reflect on the glorious fact that not only have your sins been forgiven and that eternal life has been secured, but that you have been endued with his power to live, and speak for Christ where he has placed you. The road may not always be easy and our working environment may be unkind, but, victory is assured, dear teaching colleague, not because of who you are, but because of what HE has achieved and left you to fulfil.