OPINION: Everyone knows Easter is central to the Christian faith, but for many it's not entirely clear why.
We know it's a story about Jesus that includes a death and a resurrection, but we may wonder why it's seen as revolutionary, or why it continues to shape the lives of so many people 2000 years on.
To begin to comprehend the story of Easter, we have to understand the world Jesus entered into. This is shaped by two main stories.
The first of these is political. The Roman Empire overshadowed much of the world at that time and, years before Jesus came along, Rome was already referring to someone as 'son of God' and 'Lord and Saviour' - Caesar.
It was Caesar who had brought peace to Rome, albeit through crushing their enemies in military conquest.
Then, there's the religious story. This is shaped by the experience of Jewish people in the 1st century, who lived lives marked by suffering as they were ruled over by the oppressive Romans.
They longed for deliverance, for 'salvation' from this oppression - and they looked for a king who would rise up and lead them to liberation from their enemies.
Into these two intertwined stories stepped Jesus. He was a Jewish man who preached a gospel in direct contrast to everything Rome stood for.
His 'good news' was about the inclusion of the vulnerable - and his life and ministry were devoted to those who were suffering and had been pushed to the edges of society. He refused to join the power games and the brandishing of ego that the Roman Empire was built upon.
Jesus' vision also rejected the pursuit of violence as a means to liberation. For him, religious power could be just as toxic as political power; it could be used to judge, to marginalise, to create suffering.
So his message not only challenged the Roman vision of life - it also put him at odds with those who were using religious privilege for their own power and gain.
In many respects, we continue to see these same power games play out in the present. We don't live within a dictatorial empire, but we are still tempted to build mini-empires of our own - little domains we can control, people we can coerce.
We see it play out in workplaces and families, in politics and in business, as ego-driven leaders tilt things in their own favour or as the algorithms turn us against one another for the sake of profit.
We can also see religious power being used for the benefit of a few at the expense of the masses - from the minister abusing their position as they bask in self-importance, to the self-help guru preying on our anxieties to sell us quick fixes that only seem to make things worse.
Religious forms of power are at their most toxic when they take advantage of the vulnerable and exclude those already on the edges.
Jesus' life was a challenge to both systems of toxic power - and this came to a head in Jerusalem. Collusion between religious and political power led to Jesus' arrest and, ultimately, his execution.
Yet as he was crucified as an enemy of the state and of God, Jesus stayed resolutely committed to love of the other.
As he hung on the cross, he prayed for the forgiveness of those who put him there. He resisted the temptation to violent revolution, and he allowed his life to be given up in self-giving love.
This becomes the grounds for revolutionary notions of forgiveness - a forgiveness that extends to all people everywhere, to all who are haunted by their own pasts and who seem unable to forgive themselves or one another.
Jesus' life and death are an example of one who stayed committed to the paths of non-violence, of enemy love, of inclusion of the vulnerable, of rejection of power and ego. And he believed in this so deeply that it took him to his death.
There are at least two more things that Christians say about this story.
The first is that Jesus rises again, and although scholars debate this event and what is meant by it, at the very least it affirms to Christians that his 'way' is ultimately the one which holds the realest and most enduring kind of power.
Jesus' vision of a 'kingdom' was not one that looked powerful.
In fact, it looked foolish to his onlookers to focus on the marginalised - the disabled, the sinners and sex workers, the drunks and the poor, the oppressed and the suffering. It looked foolish to resist brutish forms of power and embrace loving kindness.
And yet, in the experience of resurrection, it was shown to be the path to the truest kind of life.
The second point to note is this story is not only about Jesus. It's also a claim about what God is like.
It invites us to embrace the idea that the divine is present with us - that God is found on the streets, in the eyes and faces of another, in the life of the vulnerable. And God joins with us in challenging abuses of power and those who would use it for their own gain at the expense of others.
The meaning of Easter lies in its call to choose love, vulnerability and service, instead of power, ego and greatness. To choose forgiveness, grace and kindness, instead of judgement and exclusion. To find God in places unlikely and unlooked for.
The history of the church is a story of Christians getting this woefully wrong far too often - and yet, the story still stands as a challenge and an invitation to all of humanity.
Dr Michael Frost is a theologian and host of the podcast In The Shift.
