We need to talk about Easter eggs…
No, not chocolate eggs. It’s still a few days too early for that. I mean the Easter eggs you find in films, the little ‘in jokes’ that only fans or those really paying attention would catch. These little gifts from directors pop up quite regularly and often point to another place in the story. I love films that tell good stories and tell them well. Some of the best films are those where the director has already given you clues to the ending all the way through the film but those clues have been hidden well enough that they all come to together in a great moment of realisation. It’s the moment when you realise Bruce Willis hasn’t spoken to anyone else but the kid and was always wearing the same shirt or when you understand why Norman’s mother is as ‘harmless as one of those stuffed birds’.
The foreshadowing used in these instances enriches the stories and often makes us desperate to rewatch the films with our greater understanding, appreciating the fact that the truth was always there barely concealed before us.
Today is the Friday that we followers of Christ call ‘Good’. A day when we remember the death of Christ with all its sorrow and love. It’s a story which stirs up a full range emotion which has its beginning at the dawn of creation. Throughout human history God has constantly sought a relationship with his people. In the Old Testament this covenant relationship is renewed time and again through sacrifice and blood.
It’s the details that I want to highlight today.
When Moses makes a sacrifice and splashes blood on the alter to seal the covenant between God and the children of Israel we are told he uses a branch of the hyssop tree. At the last supper, Jesus links wine and blood as he calls on his disciples to remember him whenever they drink. Later in John’s gospel we are told Jesus is offered wine at the final moment of his sacrifice. Wine held up to him on a sponge, a sponge held on the end of a branch of hyssop.
In that moment we are transported through generations, we are shown the full picture of God’s enduring love and grace for his people.
The truth, always there, barely concealed before us.
‘This post was written while sitting in the cozy environment of The Record Cafe enjoying a 1/3 of ‘I played Bass on that’ from Verdant Brewery’
Minister Me 