An Evangelical Church in the Heart of Thatcham

Jackpot day

It comes under a raft of names: a bonanza, a treasure trove, a windfall etc. It was just the other week we were hearing about the lady who scooped the lottery jackpot and walked away with a cool £1m in prize money.

What was particularly interesting was that the lady concerned, Paula Williamson, a dinner lady from Barnsley, kept the whole thing under wraps for five weeks given that one of their sons was away in Australia at the time. She and her husband commented that they wanted to “be together as a family to share the celebratory moment”.

It’s truly remarkable keeping this entirely under wraps for so long when they had such a burning bit of good news that would have to come out sooner or later.

Now tomorrow is Good Friday. This, you could say, is “Jackpot day” for the world. It’s when Jesus won, on behalf of all mankind, their freedom from the inevitable wages of lives lived without significant reference to God, both their Maker and Sustainer.

There is no other day, in my view, greater than this day that is worthy of unsullied, ecstatic and thoroughly riotous jubilation. But why is that? Because this day lets us know, once again, that Jesus Christ of Nazareth went onto that ugly cross to purchase men and women for God; to pay, once for all, the price of their transgressions and to let them stand instead clothed forever with His perfect Righteousness.

So how do we know that there’s going to be a payout on this Good Friday bonanza? Well God has given proof through the Resurrection, three days later on that Easter Sunday, and to this day people still struggle to devise any better explanation than that given in the four Gospels.

Well let me wish you all a very Happy “Jackpot day”, I mean Easter!

Pastor Hedley

I am the Pastor at Thatcham Evangelical Church in West Berkshire. This is an FIEC (Fellowship of Evangelical Churches) affiliated church.