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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): John 20:1-18
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
John 20:1-18
✛
Jesus's Resurrection Appearances
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In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I think it’s important every Easter for the preacher to stress two things. First, welcome everyone. Be glad they’re here! I might say that we do this sort of thing every Sunday, and that at those other times it’s easier to find a good seat. But I rejoice that we are all here for the Day of Jesus’ Resurrection. This truly is the Day which the Lord hath made: let us rejoice and be glad in it. Jesus’s Day is the feast for everyone, wherever you are on the spectrum of faith or even no faith at all. You’re in good company and not very different from Jesus’s first disciples and where they were on that spectrum.
Second, just because you welcome everyone, the preacher must not short-change the congregation on the Resurrection. It is the reason we are here, the reason there is a Church. It’s not enough to talk about the coming of spring – besides, that doesn’t work in the Southern Hemisphere. Whether it’s spring or fall, Jesus lives. Years ago early one Easter morning, while I was preparing to go over to Church for our own service, I heard my favorite crusty Presbyterian radio preacher say, “It’s Easter Sunday: the day of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Big day for preachers. Important that what they say lives up to the day. A lot of sermons leave the Lord lying there half dead.”
So let’s hear about the Resurrection. The disciples came to Jesus’s tomb Sunday morning at or before dawn to finish the preparation of his body for burial. This last work of love towards Jesus had to be postponed for a full day because of the Jewish Sabbath. Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon. By the time his body was taken down from the cross and put in the tomb it was the onset of the Sabbath, which begins at sundown. They had to wait the whole day Saturday till early Sunday morning, when they returned to the grave to finish their work. Worried about the size of the stone which had been rolled over the cave opening, they found it rolled away, the tomb empty, and the linen grave cloths lying there – with the interesting detail of the face cloth folded separately in a place by itself.
Mary Magdalene was first there, and she ran to report the empty tomb to Peter and John. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” John outran Peter to the tomb but waited for Peter to get there before entering. Peter went in, then John – the author of today’s Gospel – and John says that he “saw and believed.” They returned to their homes. But Mary Magdalene stayed at the tomb, weeping. Then things started to happen. She stooped in to look, and there were two angels, one at the foot and one at the head of where Jesus’ body had lain.
Then Jesus began appearing, revealing his Resurrection. First of all he appeared to Mary Magdalene, who mistook him for the gardener and asked where he had taken Jesus’ body. Jesus called her by name, Mary. She cried out, Rabboni, which means “Teacher” in an endearing sense, but he would not let her cling to him. This is significant. The Resurrection is a new kind of life on the other side of death.
But the Resurrection was physical as well as spiritual. Just a few verses past our Gospel, Jesus reveals himself to the apostles in the Upper Room, where Jesus meets Thomas’s doubts by inviting him to put his fingers and hands into his wounds. We don’t know that Thomas took him up on his offer. What we do know, is that he cried out, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus went on to say, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (Jn 20:19-29) That scene is carved in the tableau just above the high altar.
What happened in that Upper Room animates everything that goes on in this great gothic room. We do not see as Mary Magdalene and Thomas did, but flowing down to us over the centuries and around the globe are the Holy Scriptures with the Gospels, the witness and faith of saints in every generation, the Sacraments of the Church, and the fellowship, here and now, of disciples around us. Jesus’s Resurrection has changed the world. Today there is a living, visible connection from the Upper Room to this Church through the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – which he himself instituted there at his Last Supper.
So how about all of us, wherever we are on that spectrum of faith or no faith?
Jesus blesses us as we believe. God often prepares us to be believers and disciples when we realize that self-sufficiency is not enough for life; far from it, we need help. When we reach this point, there may finally be room in the soul for Jesus to have a place. That is the first movement towards faith. Blessed are those who believe. That is the best Easter gift of all.
May the risen Lord find room in our hearts here today.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
