The Ascended Christ is King of a Kingdom that was not just present to the suffering and pain of 1st century Palestine but is present in and to all of reality today! His ascension has changed everything - namely that Heaven has come to earth. That the Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness and Love of Heaven are not just possible realities are the very reality of His Kingdom. A Kingdom that has connected Heaven to earth.

The Safest place on earth when darkness surrounds and outcomes are uncertain - the place that consistently produces life and joy is not the place of protection from external and internal harm but in the place of self giving love!

Jesus is the True Vine who has given true Peace, provision, security, belonging and significance to mankind. He is the Planting of the Lord (Is 4) that is great and glorious and we have been grafted into that Vine whose fruit has touched every corner of the globe.

Jesus Found His Friends going in the wrong direction and in the wrong place.

The Good News is that their future was not dependent on their sense of direction but on God’s Mercy and Grace revealed in the Cross and Resurrection - Jesus is confident in the power of resurrection life!

To a people whose best imagination of Good Shepherd was being under someone’s control or resisting that control through violence and force....

Jesus gives another picture of Care and Compassion.

As Jesus enters Jerusalem His is not a parade of Power but Peace and that is Good News. Especially to the powerless, weak and vulnerable. A King has come who not just a keeper of Peace by force but who forever secured Peace and Freedom through self giving self emptying love and forgiveness.

In a world and to a people that was filled with images of God Jesus is the Perfect Picture of the Father and that is Good News! He spoke life, removed darkness and restored beauty! In a moment struggling to find clarity we do not need fake buildings and trappings of religion to catch a glimpse of how God feels about you and me. If you want to know what God is like look at the Perfect Picture of Jesus.

In this moment flooded with information delivering promises of light, life and order - Jesus has become Wisdom from God - restoring light in the darkest places, life to dead hearts and wholeness to broken places.

The longer I gaze at the beauty of the Gospel its as if I hear so the thundering whisper of the eternal lover of my soul saying ‘I knew what it was all along - I know that you were worth it - I know your beauty - I know what you were created for’