An Easter Reflection

A few weeks ago, as a team, we were reflecting on a moment in Jesus’ life that doesn’t always get much airtime.

Jesus walks into the temple. What he finds there, the buying, the selling, the noise, all the stuff that had quietly crept in and made itself at home, he doesn’t just frown and walk away – he overturns the tables.

Not out of anger for anger’s sake. But because He cares deeply about what that space is meant to be. And then Paul drops this line in 1 Corinthians that makes it personal for each if us:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?”

So now we’re not just reading a story about a building in Jerusalem. We’re being asked to look inward.

What’s taken up space in us that was never meant to be there? What have we slowly let in; fear, shame, cynicism, distraction?

It’s a hard question. But here’s the thing, Easter is the answer to it.

After clearing the temple, Jesus says something that baffles everyone around Him:

“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” John 2:19

They thought he was talking about the building. He wasn’t

A few days later, Jesus is arrested, tried, and crucified. He dies. And on the third day, he rises. That’s Easter. Not just a nice story with a happy ending but the hinge of the Christian faith.

Because his death and resurrection aren’t just about Jesus, it’s about us. It’s what makes the clearing of our “temple” possible. Not by trying harder. Not by getting ourselves together first. But because the price has already been paid.

If you want to understand what Easter actually means, look at the thief crucified beside Jesus. He’s got nothing to offer, no time to change his ways and not a good track record to point to. He’s dying and yet he turns to Jesus and says simply, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” A nod towards his belief that Jesus really is who he said he was. And Jesus doesn’t hesitate.

“Today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

No checklist, no “let’s see how you do”, no earning it. Just faith, desperate and real met by grace that didn’t flinch.

Paul puts it plainly in Ephesians 2:8: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

That’s not a loophole. That’s the whole point.

Here’s what I keep coming back to. When Jesus cleared the temple, he didn’t leave it empty. He restored it to what it was always meant to be: a place of prayer, of presence, of encounter with God. Easter says he does the same with us.

Whatever you’ve been carrying, fear, doubt, the quiet weight of feeling like you’re not quite enough, this is the season where we remember that Jesus didn’t just die to forgive us. He rose to fill us. You don’t need to have it sorted; the thief on the cross didn’t. We just turn to Him and say: remember me.

And he does. He always does.