Peter believed in transformation.
He believed in the transforming power of God.
He believed in God’s desire to transform.
Easter is not the moment of God’s victory over death. That is the crucifixion.
But it is the moment when we see the transforming power of God begin to work in his people.
In the story of those first few hours of the first Easter Day, we see the people who love and follow Jesus, Mary Magdalen, Peter and the others, slowly beginning to change, to be transformed.
We are a people who believe in transformation. We are a people who wonder what God will do next. We are a people who spread the word of God’s transforming power and love among his people. We participate in his transforming mission to the world.
Some people say that there are people you might as well write off – they will never be any good. But we who love and follow Jesus wonder how God’s power and love might transform them.
Some people say that it is human nature just to look out for yourself and not care about other people and we might as well build our lives around an assumption of human cynicism. But we who love and follow Jesus wonder how God’s love will enter our hearts and enable us to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.
Some people say that there is no way that human beings will come together and work together to save our planet, denying our individual desires to use its resources if need be. But we who love and follow Jesus wonder whether the Holy Spirit, spreading God’s power and love in the world, will bring us together for the common good out of love for future generations.
The transforming power and love of God breaks into the world on Easter Day. Feel his power. Feel his love. Feel his power and his love at work in your lives. Spread the word. Spread the faith in a God of transforming power and love who is at work in our lives today.