ANGLICAN MEDIA MELBOURNE

27 March 2002 For immediate release

from the Most Reverend Peter Watson Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne

When Christians celebrate Easter, we commemorate events that took place in the history of the world. At a certain time in the past, these events actually took place. The Easter events attract the faith of Christians, but our faith by itself does not make the events true. Instead, it is the facts of history which make the events real and our faith valid. First and foremost, Christianity is true and Jesus Christ is real, whether or not people choose to respond.

If the death of Jesus and his resurrection to life had happened in 2002, we would have had photographs and news reports to assure us of their reality. Today, Australians have come to rely on technology to prove reality. However, the Easter events were recorded by the best technology of their day; eye-witness testimony which was written down in books of the Bible, especially the books of Luke and Acts. Doubting the Bible’s ability to record history is the self-importance and egotism of a technological era.

The Christian faith is far more than mythical or wishful. It has a core of solid assurance, founded in real events of history, that undergirds us during times of uncertainty and grief. Yet, assurance in our faith should never allow us to become smug. Being a Christian is no guarantee of ease and comfort, nor of moral goodness. We have Jesus Christ’s standards to follow in this life, but only our destiny in eternity is assured. This Easter, my prayer and my best hope is that you will find certainty and assurance in Jesus Christ; crucified for sin; raised to new life and alive for evermore.

The Archbishop is preaching at St Paul’s Cathedral (corner Swanston and Flinders Streets) on Easter Sunday (March 31) at 10 am.