These two themes - a gift from a loved one that brings delight and the promise of reversibility and triumph - resonate strongly within me as I recall the events of the first Easter from the perspective of the disciples, the followers of Jesus.

On Good Friday, after three intimate years with Christ, the disciples were overwhelmed by their Master's crucifixion. Three days later, when the rumours about Jesus' missing body swept through Jerusalem, the disciples couldn't dare to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, as had been foretold. They were too conditioned to the irreversible to believe that Jesus was alive. But when Jesus did appear that day (and subsequently to over 500 others) the disciples were convinced that something new, absolutely new, had broken out on earth. The kingdom of God had been inaugurated. From apparent despair there was triumph. Against all the odds, the irreversible had been reversed.

So Easter eggs remind us of God's amazing gift on the first Easter - the offer of a new life in relationship with him. A life that has meaning, peace and joy for everyone who accepts God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The German theologian Jürgen Moltmann expresses in a single sentence the great span from Good Friday to Easter Sunday It is, in fact, a summary of human history, past, present, and future: "God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with him."

May you know God's love, peace and joy this Easter.