To give something an airing is to expose it to the fresh air and then let all the bits of negativity be blown away. This may be the washing of the clothes or the house rugs during spring cleaning. A warm and slightly windy day is chosen. The windows are opened. Fresh air replaces the dusty stale air of the winter months. Everything is cleaned and open to inspection. The old is replaced by a new and fresh outlook. The home is cleansed. The freshness and surety of life is felt. There will be new items brought into the home. A physical cleansing has taken place. All is readjusted. There is a new joy that runs through the home, which every visitor will feel. The old dusty corners are no more. Everything takes on a new value and is positive and joyful.
After the crucifixion everything was depressing and dreary. The disciples had lost their leader and they dare not hope for miracles, as they struggled with what they felt was the reality of life and death. Surely Jesus had failed. His ministry was no more. They were leaderless and didn’t know how to react to it. They all cowered together and discussed what they should do. They were afraid for their own lives. Then suddenly Mary Magdalene burst into the room. She told them she had seen Jesus. They didn’t believe her. He had been crucified and that was common knowledge. These were the demented ravings of Jesus’s woman. She was never liked as she took all the love from them. She was only a woman! They were the important ones as they were after all men.
As Mary explained what she had seen, there began to be a glimmer of light and eventually Peter and John put away their fears and ran to the place where they knew Jesus’s body had been placed. They were amazed to find that the huge stone sealing the entrance had been rolled away. They were puzzled but yet they felt some understanding of Jesus’s words that he would be raised up in three days and so it now appeared to be. When they returned with the confirmation of Mary’s words, she urged them to go out into the streets and proclaim the truth to the people. At first, they felt stupid, because they were only simple souls and not used to hearing their own voices telling the story of Jesus.
Very soon, as they spoke the words, they were filled with the Holy Ghost and all fear left them. The listeners were amazed as they spoke in tongues, so that each and every one of them could hear the words clearly in their own language. Many souls had come to Jerusalem from their own lands to make a sacrifice in the Temple and be blessed by the priests until they could come again. The disciples were guided to go out into the roads and highways spreading the Good News that Jesus had now risen from the dead and that he was alive. They had seen him. They gave the message an airing and throughout the lands of the Roman Empire. The new was brought in and the old dusty beliefs were confronted. Houses keep their new knowledge in their own homes as the Roman soldiers tried to root it out. The words were kept safe by passing them from one to the other. It was not deemed safe to write anything down until the Gospels emerged several decades later.
Tuesday, 27th April 2021
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