This is being written immediately before Palm Sunday.  So, thinking about Palm Sunday and the days leading up to Good Friday, it struck me that nothing Jesus did was accidental. It was planned. It had a purpose.  The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was planned. The ass and the foal were arranged. The procession was a deliberate fulfilment of Zechariah's prophecy. It was all according to plan.

In the preceding weeks, Jesus had visited Jerusalem on a number of occasions, during which the authorities tried not only to trap him, but made attempts to get him. The plot thickened, but Jesus said to his perplexed followers that his time had not yet come.

He was controlling events; not the events controlling him. Right up to the evening of his arrest, he worked out his plan. There was a room all prepared for Jesus to use. He entertained his disciples, deliberately placing a new emphasis on the bread and wine. He planned a new celebration for his followers and succeeding generations of Christians.

There were no accidents.  Nothing was left to chance. It was all planned by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, give a thought to his resurrection. He appeared to a number of people. He chose the place and the time. Such an encounter was not only deeply significant for those folk then, but for all of us since. When did Jesus appear to these people? Very early in the morning; late morning; late afternoon, and at the end of the day. In other words, right through the day.

This was no accident. The risen Christ can meet us at any time of any day. Where did he appear to these people? In a cemetery; in a garden; while some friends were walking home; while some men were getting on with their job, albeit they were fishing. He met some in their old haunts.

Again, this is no accident. We can meet Jesus in the cemetery - and we need to meet him there to charge our lives with hope and comfort. We can meet him in a garden, as so many have affirmed that they are nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else.

We can meet him while walking or travelling. We can meet him while doing our job, or whatever takes up a significant part of our lives - be it school, leisure or recreation. We can meet Him in our old haunts. Was it not deliberate that our Lord met those first Christians in the same kind of places and situations in which we find ourselves? Could it not be that the Lord, who deliberately set out to meet those people after his resurrection, has deliberately set out to encounter you and me today?