The general election is off and running. For those ‘would be’ parliamentary candidates the business of convincing the electorate that they are the right person to vote for will take up every minute they have for the next few weeks. This year’s election will be close, with many of the smaller parties seeing a surge in support. Marginal seats will certainly be the focus and here in our city there will be plenty of people anxiously waiting for the result. But what about that those in safe seats? What about those general election candidates with no hope of winning? Many candidates in so-called safe seats can already be confident they will lose. According to the Electoral Reform Society over half of the 650 seats up for grabs are unlikely to change hands. So why on earth do these ‘would be’ candidates with no hope of winning spend months knocking on doors only to get totally thrashed on polling day?
No hope of winning … this is quite an apt thought for Easter week. When Jesus was betrayed by one of his own followers into the hands of the religious leaders and Roman authorities He was in the same position. A kangaroo religious court, trumped up charges, false witnesses, no fair advocate to act on his behalf – what chance did Jesus have? He had no hope of winning. Even in a Roman court, with the governor presiding, sadly there was a clear lack of enthusiasm to do what was right and instead the route of minimum involvement was far more attractive. Jesus had no hope of winning. Sentenced to death on the cross, his jailers gave him no sympathy or compassion. Not even his last few hours were free from pain and grief – he had no hope of winning them over, instead they thought it fun to play dice for his clothes. Finally, as Jesus hung dying on the cross the crowds hurled insults, the religious leaders stood smugly. He had no hope of winning – he would be the loser that day. But then the voice of a penitent thief on the cross next to his, and then the declaration of the Roman centurion supervising the execution, one asking for forgiveness, the other declaring him to be the ‘Son of God’. No hope of winning? Seems two individuals were won over that day. Three days later, God would raise Jesus’ dead body to life again and many more would be winners too. In that joyous act of resurrection God made it possible for all to know him and to live in his awesome presence for eternity despite all their human failings. Forgiveness had come, the power of sin erased and access to God a reality. No hope of winning? I don’t think so, as my favourite Easter hymn declares:
Look, ye saints! The sight is glorious; see the man of sorrows now,
From the fight returned victorious; every knee to him shall bow.
God bless you this Easter time,
Major Adrian