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The Sunday Of The Resurrection: Easter Day
Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by thy life-giving Spirit; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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The Sunday Of The Resurrection: Easter Day
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Scripture citation(s): Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18
✛
Christ's Resurrection Changes Everything
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In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
We are all here today because of an event which occurred in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago sometime between midnight and sunrise on the first Easter Sunday. No one saw it happen, but happen it did: God raised Jesus of Nazareth from his grave into eternal life. This event changed everything in the world, on earth and in heaven, in time and eternity, and it continues to do so.
The Resurrection of Jesus on the third day after his death on Good Friday is an event in history, but it was not seen by anyone. Its evidence is seen in its effects.[1] First, the stone covering Jesus’ tomb was rolled away, revealing the tomb to be empty. The stone was not rolled away so Jesus could get out, but its removal caused his disciples to look in and enter. Jesus was not physically resuscitated back into this life of time and space. If he had been, then like Lazarus of Bethany Jesus would die again. But God so raised Christ that he will never die again. Death has no more dominion over him. In Jesus death is done with.
Second, the risen Jesus left his grave cloths behind, just where they were while he lay dead in the tomb. When Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, the dead man had to be unbound and loosed from his linen wrappings.[2] Not Jesus. In today’s Gospel, John the Beloved Disciple says he perceived this as he stepped into the tomb to see for himself; when he saw Jesus’ grave cloths left neatly behind, he believed.
Third, the risen Jesus began to reveal his Resurrection to his disciples. His first appearance was to Mary Magdalene. The open empty tomb had not made Magdalene think Jesus was risen; far from it. She supposed “they” – Jesus’ enemies – had taken his body away.[3] Alarmed, she went to tell Peter who with John ran to see for himself. Peter apparently did not yet believe when he saw the empty tomb; he and John returned to their homes.
But Mary was very upset. When she returned to the tomb and looked in again, this time there were two angels, one at the head and the other at the foot where Jesus’ body had lain, who asked why she was weeping. “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.” Then she turned around. There was Jesus, standing before her. “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?” Still blinded by grief, she supposed him to be the gardener. “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Then the world changed. “Mary,” said the Lord. “Rabboni,” she answered the familiar voice saying her name. Rabboni might be rendered, “Dear Lord.”
Magdalene may once have anointed Jesus’ feet with her tears in gratitude for deliverance, but now Jesus cautions her not to hold on to him. He will show his risen body to the apostles in the upper room. “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have.”[4] A week later he will offer doubting Thomas the chance to touch his wounds. But Mary, now not doubting at all, wants to cling to Jesus for dear life. Mary Magdalene, John the Evangelist and Beloved Disciple, Peter and then all the Twelve (minus Judas) and many more disciples, each in his own way, all came to see and to believe that Jesus was alive after his crucifixion and death. But as the Lord told Magdalene, he was soon to ascend to the Father. Jesus was now beyond time and space and would ascend to God’s right hand, whence he has relationships with millions,[5] with me and with you.
The crucifixion is the attempt by a fallen and sinful world to maintain the status quo; to annihilate Jesus and to eradicate what he did, taught and stood for. But the Resurrection is God’s vindication of Jesus, the Father’s almighty love for his only Son, the divine verdict on Jesus’ life, ministry and mission. Christ’s Resurrection changes everything.
Jesus is the Head of the Church, and the Church is the mystical Body of Christ, raised to life with Jesus on the first Easter. The Church is people, from those first disciples down the ages of sinners and saints – to my mother and father and Sunday School teacher, to me, to you. The people of Saint Thomas Church are members of this mystical Body. Christ’s word and sacraments, his teaching, the ministry of care and healing, the forgiveness, counsel and guidance, the prayer and fellowship, the service of the poor are here – and everywhere the Church of Jesus is found. Momentarily we shall celebrate the Communion of his Presence, Christ’s Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine, which he gave us on the eve of his crucifixion.
On behalf of Jesus Christ, it is a joy to see you. Welcome! Easter is for every one of us. On the first Easter all kinds of faith, half-faith, and no-faith were in evidence. The same is true here of us this morning. But what really matters is which way we are moving. So let me finish with a simple question: Is your face or your back turned towards the Lord?
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
[1] Here the Easter Gospels fall all over themselves with no apparent attempt to get their stories straight for public consumption. They carry the ingenuous authority of honest witnesses.
[2] St. John 11:44.
[3] The same charge of removing his body was made against Jesus’ disciples by the chief priests, who paid their hired guards to tell this story in St. Matthew 28:11-15. The Passover Plot, by Jewish British scholar Hugh J. Schonfield, maintained (best-selling book, 1965; movie 1976) that Jesus himself, aided by Joseph of Arimathea, feigned his death and was nursed back to vigor in order to proclaim himself an earthly Messiah. Interest and debate are perennial. Frank Morison’s 1930 book, Who Moved the Stone? remains in print through several editions and is the best readable analysis of the evidence. Morison began his study as an unbeliever and completed it with his title page citing the Apostles’ Creed, “On the third day he rose again from the dead.”
[4] St. John 20:19-29; quote from St. Luke 24:36-43, where the risen Lord also eats broiled fish and honey.
[5] Not least in a few years, “as one born out of time,” would be the Church’s zealous persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, who was converted into the Apostle Paul, I Corinthians 15:1-11.
