Conspiracy Theories are Nothing New…
Reverend James Fields, Chaplain for Merchant Taylors' School explores one of the oldest conspiracies of our times and what its implications are on our modern concept of conspiracy.
Who moved the stone? Did the soldiers roll it back and remove the body from the tomb, lest it become a focal point for malcontents and resistance to the occupying regime?
Or were some of his disciples responsible… hiding the body elsewhere, confirming the rumours of miraculous powers?
The strange events that unfolded in a garden that first Easter surely call to mind strange events in a garden at the beginning of time. It is widely accepted that gardens are good places to ponder and reflect. They hold the keys to our understanding of so many things, not least the cycle of death and life. Gardens may lay things bare, but they also invite wonder as well, and offer a sense that all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.
Conspiracy theories appear to arise when intelligent people are wrong footed by their own imaginations and their trust in the real world around them. For example, it’s been interesting reading intelligent journalists having to row back on their own crazy and unfeeling speculation about a princess and a family photo shop. And that’s the least of it.
I like the idea that faith need not be dogmatic, but that it can run deep with a trust in God's love. Each Easter sheds a light on our ever changing lives and circumstances.
Easter could be about unravelling the mystery of what transpired in a garden 2000 years ago, or it could be an opportunity to consider the great stones and boulders in our present world which stand in the way of justice, honour and love where death seems to outwit life.
I wonder if the mysterious constellation of light that rolled back the heavy stone door to a tomb 2000 years ago isn’t the very same constellation of light that we can harness in our lives, helping us to roll back the obstacles that stand in the way of a kinder and more loving world?
Perhaps this Easter can be a time when we ask, what stones do we need to roll back in our own lives, so that light can reach to the darkest corners of our world?
May your Easter be a time of peace and healing, a time for reaching out and reaching within. Step into the garden, breath the air. Stand still and know that life, ultimately, will always have the last word.