Gambia: Easter Message 2014 From the Most Reverend Robert P. Ellison CSSP Bishop of Banjul

17 April 2014

The stories of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead as told by the four evangelists differ quite considerably. None of them attempt to give a clear historical account of what happened during the forty days between Easter Sunday and the Ascension of our Lord into Heaven. However, these stories are filled with powerful scenes of hope and new life as Jesus appears and disappears at random among his disciples during those forty days.

And no matter how we look at the Easter stories, they present us with a very fragile beginning for a religion that has lasted for almost 2000 years! As we read them or listen to them, many of us are often tempted to focus our attention on the empty tomb, on that morning, on what did or did not happen there. And we find it so difficult to talk about the Ressurection of Jesus to those who are unable to believe. Nobody has ever seen what happened very early on that Easter morning at the tomb in the garden near the place where Jesus was crucified. A disciple of Jesus called Joseph of Arimathaea had been given permission by Pilate to bury the dead body of Jesus. It was truly a thoughtful gesture of compassion on his part to have taken such an initiative on behalf of Mary, mother of Jesus, the other women and John the beloved disciple. How could they have been prepared for such a need in such tragic circumstances?

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