Back to Bulletins List

Bulletin 161 Date : 23rd Apr 2009
Ahhh go on wiya!

My wife grew up in an area of Nottingham known as ‘The Meadows’. It has an idyllic sounding name but a rather different character. One of the characteristics of ‘The Meadows’ is its dialect. I particularly like the phrase, ‘ahhh go on wiya’ which is literally translated ‘ahhh go on with you’. A more accurate translation would be ‘frankly, I don’t believe you’.

In the weeks after Easter we read that the followers of Jesus, instead of being overwhelmed with joy at his resurrection, were plagued by doubts and disbeliefs. When Mary Magdalene came to the disciples from the tomb having first met the risen Lord (John 20:18), their likely response was ‘ahhh go on wiya’ (of course they would have said it in Aramaic). When the two travelers on the Road to Emmaus were joined by a stranger they would have said the same if that stranger had told them who he was. Even as late as Matthew 28:17 when Jesus gave the Great Commission, we are told that some still doubted. And, of course, the doubter par excellence was Thomas who needed proof before he would believe in the resurrection (John 20:25). I’m sure he came out with a very loud ‘ahhh go on wiya’ when the other disciples said, ‘we have seen the Lord’.

So why was there this atmosphere of doubt? Two events in the past stick out in my mind where I watched something in utter disbelief. The first was the landing of the first ever space shuttle. Just a few days before, it had taken off like a rocket and had been blasted into outer space. Now I watched on TV as it penetrated the earth’s atmosphere and gracefully glided to earth, landing like and aeroplane on a desert runway. The second event also involved air travel. It was that fateful day on September 11th 2001 when I watched 2 jumbo jets crashing into the twin towers of New York. Having been to the top of those monster buildings on several occasions, I stared in utter disbelief at what was happening. Sadly, both events have to some extent become commonplace and no longer arouse the same sense of wonder or shock horror.

Some people struggle with the fact that, although people of faith, they are bombarded at times with doubts. We need to recognize that doubt and faith are not opposites. The opposite of doubt is certainty whereas faith is something we can exercise in spite of having doubts. Many Nottingham Forest and Derby County fans will be holding on to the belief that their teams will avoid relegation but in the back of their minds, as they look at the league table, is this nagging doubt that something might go wrong.

The older we get, the more we are reminded of the frailty of life. With aching joints and loss of mobility we bemoan the fact that time has caught up with us. But to focus only on the negatives can lead us to depression. All around us are reminders of God’s love and provision.

The two events I described above show the extremes of human achievement. The first shows the advances we have made in science and technology. The second show the extremes of depravity to which some have sunk and is an indictment on a world which pushes people to such extremes of violence against their fellow man. Easter, likewise, shows us extremes. On one hand there’s the blindness and ignorance of those who sentenced Jesus to death and on the other hand there’s the immense forgiveness and love of God as Jesus looks down from the cross with the words, ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’.

Christians are people who allow their faith in God’s goodness to triumph over the pain and suffering in the world, knowing that all things are in his hands and, because of the cross and resurrection, the victory is assured. When we proclaim that ‘Jesus is alive’, there’s no room for ‘ahhh go on wiya’.