Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!
Easter Day, April 17, 2022
Isaiah 65:17-25 • Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 • 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 • John 20:1-18
Oh what a glorious day! We have made our austere Lenten pilgrimage against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, and wars around the world, desperate poverty and need, natural disasters, and the lingering concerns and restrictions of the pandemic. We have walked through the darkening streets of Jerusalem with Jesus this Holy Week. We have stood far off, and watched as the events unfolded on Thursday and Friday. We have harrowed hell, accompanied by wild winds and heavy rain.
And today we are here! With the bells, the joyous music, the Alleluias, the glorious flowers, the sparkling brasses and the sunshine !
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!
How can we be here? What just happened? Can’t you see Mary Magdalene, rising in the dark, that first Easter morning. Still in shock at the memory of seeing the lifeless body of her friend and teacher being placed in the tomb. The stone being rolled across the opening. And having to leave him there – alone.
She gathers herself that morning, and runs through the empty streets of the city, to the tomb. But the stone is rolled away! What passes through her mind? Has the precious body has been interfered with? Taken away? Why? Who? She runs back to find some of the disciples. But they don’t know any more than she does. Didn’t Jesus say something about this? About what would happen after his death? They leave.
Not Mary though. She stays. Dares to look in the tomb, and sees – two angels! She turns, uncomprehending, sees someone – only recognizing Jesus when he says her name.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!
The incomprehensible and unimaginable has happened – just as Jesus said it would.
God-in-Jesus, loved the world so much that God-in-Jesus died for us; died an agonizing and cruel death. A death that we would notice, and notice all the more when the seemingly impossible happened.
We, humans, know all about death. We know that what’s dead is dead, leaving us behind in sorrow. It’s so easy to believe that death is the absolute end. It’s certain that almost everything changes. But even we know that not everything does. The impact of that life on the world remains. The memories are still with us. And the love is as alive as it ever was.
Maybe you’ll think I’m a heretic. Maybe I am. I just don’t believe that God was teaching us anything new about love, death and forgiveness in the crucifixion: just finding a radically different way to express those truths. I believe that love has always been stronger than death. I believe that while physical death absolutely changes things, it is not the end and never has been.
And did our sins suddenly get forgiven by this redemptive act of love. Personally, I can’t believe that. If God has loved us since the beginning of time, wouldn’t our God have been forgiving our sins all along: certainly hoping we might get things right rather more often, but forgiving us all the same.
I do believe that we desperately needed and need Jesus. We needed to hear and see God’s message of love and forgiveness being articulated in word and action by someone whom we could identify with. And not just once, trapped in time and space, but in the present, the here and now.
The historical Jesus was extraordinary: a beloved child of God, just as we are, but more, so much more. A child of God, knowing from the beginning that he was filled with the spirit of God, so much so that he could call the God of all creation, Abba, a familiar name for father rather like our ‘Dad’. And he came to teach us that we too could get close to this God: this God who loves us and forgives us, more than we can imagine. It is this Jesus whose body is laid in the tomb.
In his resurrection, Jesus as the Christ, is revealed in and through all creation as the spirit of the living God. The Christ who walks among us. Whose face we recognize in in each other’s faces. Who we recognize and become part of as we share in the bread broken and elevated at the holy table.
Might we wish that the painful story of the Crucifixion hadn’t had to happen? Of course, but have you ever wondered what would have happened if God had intervened: if Jesus had leapt off that cross in triumph, complete with full heavenly choral backing and a light show? There’s no doubt it would have caught people’s attention. But for how long, and would the world have been transformed? I doubt much if anything would have changed. We humans have short attention spans.
As it was, Jesus’ repeated post Resurrection appearances breathe new life into his followers. They can now reexamine all that he has taught them in the light of these extraordinary encounters. It’s true, it’s all true! They are revived, and they are empowered. This small group of men and women are going out into the world with Jesus’ teachings: there’s no stopping them. They are on fire!
Today is Easter Sunday, and it’s a joy to be here together. I hope we never take that for granted! How shall we live into this day?
Perhaps we will be like the beloved disciple who sees the empty tomb and believes. Perhaps we will be like Simon Peter, and need to go into the tomb and carefully examine the linen wrappings before we can be certain. Perhaps we will be like Mary, and need to hear Jesus calling our name. Perhaps we need to experience Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. Perhaps we will need to put our fingers in Jesus’ wounded side.
Whatever our own truth is, don’t all of us still yearn for God to give us a moment of absolute knowing. Sadly it seems that our own internal wiring finds it difficult to support that gift: we forget too easily. Instead we find that our faith grows in ways we don’t understand. It is nourished by shared worship, and by our communal life. We remember, we forget, but we keep coming back, rediscovering the well of living water where all are welcome, and all are fed.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is so much more than one more flashy miracle. The resurrected Christ is here, now, for all of us to know. He knows our joy. He knows our pain. He knows our yearning and he knows our confusion. We can know him in each other. We can know him in our hearts.
Alleluia. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!