Jade and Easter

Jade Goody will probably mean more to millions of people than Easter. Even if just for one year. But that’s the point: it will be just this year. Jade wasn’t just typical of 21st century fame; she encapsulated it. So desired, so addictive but so short-lived.

Many yearn for that glamour and popularity – sometimes notoriety – which was indeed hers. But perhaps harder to admit was the vulnerable ordinariness combined with outspoken, strong views made a lot of people feel represented, when she would make her over-documented television appearances – from Big Brother to Jonathan Ross. In short, large sections of Britain can identify with Jade.

Interestingly, the attraction of Jesus Christ for countless millions, is that they can identify with him. He grew up in humble circumstances and was shown to be vulnerable, yet he was far from ordinary. In relative youth, he was propelled into the public eye in a blaze of marvel and controversy. Was Jade identifying with him, when in her last weeks, she had her children baptised so that she and they could one day be, in her words, ‘together in Jesus’?

We will probably never know whether Jade had actually decided to follow Christ, but when people embark on such a journey, they discover that indentifying with him moves swiftly to the most reliable personal relationship ever encountered. This is extraordinary, but possible because Jesus was not only man, but is also God. The Easter story in three steps explains this: Jesus was executed for claiming that he was sent by, and was, God; he rose from the dead; to this day people experience new life when they put their trust in him and his words.

So, Easter may be seemingly stifled by the temporary sensation of celebrity, but it is influential beyond compare. In fact, by the statistical average, it will be the start of new life of tens of thousands of people worldwide, on whichever day you are reading this.