This Sunday is Easter day - We are told always to judge (1 Cor 2:15) but never to condemn (Mt 7:1). Holy Week illustrates why this is so. We always interpret things from within our own framework of understanding. Milo (aged 3) wants to be a vicar because he thinks that all I do is to play with the toys kept in the church. Lawrence (aged 6) asked me whether Jesus ate an Easter egg when he was on the cross. In Galilee Jesus had wanted to avoid being labelled. He did not want to raise false expectations and so had repeatedly told people he had healed, to keep quiet about what had happened (e.g. Mark 1:43). Then he went to Jerusalem where people knew of him only by reputation and saw him for the political messiah they wanted him to be. They cheered him because of what they hoped for from him. By (Good) Friday they would be disappointed and by (Easter) Sunday astonished. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection lay beyond the imagination of anything that anyone might have thought of for that week. The story of Jesus' death and resurrection fits no framework but its own - it can be interpreted only by itself.

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