Theme: Resurrection!
Readings: Isaiah 65:17-25 Acts 10:34-43 Luke 24:1-12 (or 13-35)
Ps 66:1-11
Collect:
God of glory,
by the raising of your Son
you have broken the chains of death and hell:
fill your Church with faith and hope;
for a new day has dawned
and the way to life stands open
in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Comment
Our story of Easter Sunday morning leaves everything in the air: we are told about the experiences of the women and the apostles, we hear from the angels that Jesus is alive; but in our gospel reading we do not meet the risen Lord Jesus himself. Many of us identify with that position: we have heard people telling of great experiences, but we wish we could actually meet the risen Lord Jesus. Faith seems rather airy fairy.
Our first reading tells of an event a few months later. Peter says that he has actually seen Jesus, risen from the dead. Jesus has eaten and drunk with him and other disciples – there isn’t a shadow of doubt in Peter’s mind that Jesus is really and truly alive, in body as well as in spirit. However, he also points out that the only people to see Jesus in the flesh after his death were people who were already his disciples.
(The possible exceptions were Jesus’ brother James, and Saul of Tarsus – see 1 Corinthians 15:7,8.)
A cynic would say that was suspicious, making it likely that the resurrection story was cooked up by his disciples; but that explanation does not account for the events on Easter Sunday, nor for the amazing change in the disciples. The most likely explanation is that Jesus had finished his mission; now he is preparing his followers for their mission. There would be no point in public demonstrations of his resurrection; the spread of the good news was going to be the work of his followers. They were the ones who needed to be convinced about the good news.
The resurrection of Jesus demonstrates that the message really is good news. In our first reading we see that the good news is all about God seeking a relationship with people, and bringing it about through Jesus, through his good life, his unjust death, and his resurrection to new life. Jesus is Lord of all, and judge of all – he decides who is acceptable to God. He is also the one who makes us acceptable to God:
his death on the cross means that God’s forgiveness is available to all who believe in him, whoever they are.
There is more. The resurrection of Jesus is the prototype for the new creation. Those who are forgiven and accepted by God have a relationship which is not just for now, but for all eternity. As Jesus is now, so will we be.
Faith in Jesus and in what Jesus has done is essential. God’s Son did not die on the cross for no purpose! His death and resurrection matter!
It matters to each one of us, for it was for each one of us he died and rose again. If we think it was unnecessary, and that we don’t need that kind of help to be acceptable to God, then we need to think again.
We don’t need to meet the risen Lord Jesus in the flesh in order to believe. The evidence for his resurrection is compelling. We do need to have made up our minds to trust him, and to live each day assuming that our living Lord is with us by his Spirit. That’s what he promised!
Questions
1) Why is Easter good news to you?
2) How can we best celebrate Easter??