At Easter time, we may frequently return to those pleasant memories of the years which have passed before us. Scenes of chasing elusive Easter eggs, a photograph of our cherubic visage on the lap of a fuzzy eared stranger and, perhaps putting on our Easter best to attend the requisite trip to our local church; each may wander through our minds. It is a comfortable place to be, these corners of our personal histories.

Yet, in spite of our regular traditions and our proclivity to remember only pleasantness, there is a darker and far more serious side, to our remembrances.

The darker side, as unpleasant as it may be, it the reality of the betrayal and death of a fellow human being. Yes, the betrayal is of Jesus Christ, in the story of His Passion. Somehow, if we removed from us, as only being the divine Son of God, and not the Son of Man, there is a great gulf fixed. We must be occasionally reminded, of His humanness, as we must be reminded of our own.

In the Gospel of Saint John, we are given the story of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, on that night of His betrayal. Jesus well knew of His fulfillment of the prophesies, which came before, and the ultimate sacrifice they called for. Indeed, when the soldiers came to arrest Him, He did not hide; He did not run away.

Instead, as they did not know who to look for, they asked the first person they came across, literally stumbling upon the person they sought.

“Whom do you seek?” Jesus asked. They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”Without shirking, without delay, Jesus replied, “I am He.” The verbal exchange was soon repeated, with the beginning of the Passion of the Christ.

As Saint Peter, in spite of his protestations to the contrary, eventually denied Jesus, as the Christ, so may we in our attentions to the ministry our Lord established, for us. Each day, we are challenged to obey; a word which is so unpleasant to our ears and minds…and to our souls. We, as were the first couple on Earth, fraught with the often unpleasant task of dealing with life itself; as if it were some sort of continual trial and burden.

Of course, much of the trials in this life are of our own choosing. As Christians, we are called to believe in our Savior, with every fabric of our being and to regularly worship Him.

This begs the obvious question: Are we just “Chreaster’s?” Do we just go to church a couple of times a year, say at Christmas and Easter, because it makes us feel good, or do we have a stray bit of guilt for staying away?

This Sunday marks the greatest day in the Christian year. Of course, without Christmas, there would be no Easter, but Easter is the remembrance of the sacrifice , by the Son of God for us to, once and for all, be a sacrifice for our sins. Yes, this is a dark subject, as the light of the Risen Son shines upon us. Let us remember His words, “I am He,” as we go forward in His name to spread the “Good News” of Jesus Christ, to our very troubled world.