Third Sunday of Easter Luke 24:36b-48 Acts 3:12-19Both in Luke 24 and in Acts 3, we find similar statements, the first by Jesus: ‘You are witnesses of these things.’ And the second by Peter when he addressed the people in those early days of the Church: ‘To this we are witnesses.’ When we are talking about witnesses these days, we are usually referring to witness statements in the context of a crime. They can be witnesses for the prosecution or witnesses for the defence. These are important, because they help assess certain situations and to come to an informed conclusion, which leads to a decision that is in line with the evidence. Witnesses are often essential in the process of determining who is responsible for or connected with an event. In the account from Acts 3, Peter is emphasising the testimony of the witnesses to the resurrection; this testimony is the reason for the faith of the Church and has been the evidence of the death and resurrection of Jesus on which we base our hope. In his discourse, Peter uses the history of the people – referring to the God they already knew, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ – as a starting point for laying down the facts about Jesus, and the sequence of events that led to our salvation. He is speaking clearly, making it relevant to the crowd, so that they may hear the essence of the faith of the Church and what it is based upon: the evidence and witnesses of their own time, in fulfilment of the prophets. For the necessity that the Messiah would suffer had been foretold a long time ago. And Peter relates it all, so that the people might repent and ‘turn to God so that their sins may be wiped out.’ In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 24, Jesus is himself the evidence to the resurrection. When he suddenly appears to the disciples and their companions gathered together, he greets them saying, ‘Peace be with you.’ Of course they were startled and terrified at first, as it says, thinking they were seeing a ghost. And even when Jesus continues, asking why they are frightened and having doubts, and telling them to look at his hands and his feet and to touch and see, they remain bewildered. So Jesus asks them to give him something to eat; now that should be real evidence of his being newly and truly alive! Jesus also refers back to the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms, that they must all be fulfilled, and then, Luke says, ‘he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.’ It’s not as if faith came immediately; the disciples had to overcome some very strong notions, like the one that people don’t normally come back from the dead. They needed the explanation from God’s own word in the past, as well as the walking and talking risen Lord of the present, who was revealed as the Son of God. The question from the accounts of the resurrection and its proof may still be: ‘what kind of body did Jesus have?’. Certain rules of nature no longer seem to apply, as Jesus seems to move across the dimensions, bringing together heaven and earth in a new and startling way. His body is at home in both, so that may teach us something about life in God’s new world, in a recreated order. But, what both Jesus and Peter are saying is much more to the point and more relevant for the human race: ‘that repentance and forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in Jesus’ name to all nations.’ It is that promise that – through faith – truly restores and renews the people. Even while this side of heaven, we can taste new life as redeemed children of God. God’s love and mercy, through the saving work of Jesus Christ, has wiped out our sins. Forgiveness through Jesus’ work on the cross and his resurrection has given us a new start, a new life, a true freedom. Through faith, we become witnesses to these things. Witnesses who are giving proof of the risen Lord through their own new lives, ‘risen with Christ’. Do we still doubt whether it all works? Do we perhaps still wonder about the ‘how’? Well, we may not be able to fully understand the mechanics of the recreated order of God’s new world. But then, do we really need to? After all, we can’t physically see or touch love, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. In fact, we know it is there through the way we experience it. I am reminded of those words from the Taizé chant: ‘Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.’ ‘Where charity and love are, God is there.’ We are witnesses of that. Amen.
Second Sunday of Easter John 20:19-end Acts 4:32-35‘With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.’The book of the Acts of the Apostles gives us all manner of evidence to the resurrection and in a sense continues Jesus’ ministry on earth, even after he has gone up to heaven, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we are called to do likewise. We have just celebrated Easter, that most important moment in the history of salvation, when Jesus was raised from the dead and opened for us the gate to heaven. Easter is the story of hope; the story of life; and the story of love. Our faith may at times be tested but we always come back to that undeniable mystery of God’s work of salvation, culminating in the evidence of the empty tomb.Thomas, one of the disciples and called ‘the twin’, had not been there when the disciples first saw the good news of Jesus when he appeared among them. That made him cynical, not willing to believe or not allowing himself to accept what seemed impossible, lovely though it would be if it were true! And so Jesus came again, a week later, standing among them, although the doors were shut, it says in John 20. Jesus does not rebuke Thomas for his lack of faith. Instead, he simply speaks to him, saying, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ It doesn’t say that Thomas actually did what Jesus told him; he might not have needed a physical touch after all but even if he did, he came to believe, saying, ‘My Lord and my God!’When Thomas doubted the accounts of the other disciples, not willing to be taken in by their enthusiasm, Jesus encouraged him to really hear and see the truth. It enables Thomas to then indeed see and address Jesus as God. Now, nothing more was necessary for Thomas to make that leap in his understanding of who Jesus really was and still is. Do we sometimes doubt? I bet we do. That’s not unnatural but it is a moment to work out again what the evidence is saying and to be encouraged and reassured about the work and the love of God in and through his Son Jesus. In the book of Acts, amazing things continued to happen, as the Church, in the shape of the disciples and new followers of Christ, came to grow and spread the news that God had stepped in, had taken on human flesh in order to recreate us. For that is what it was all about: the resurrection was a recreation. As a redeemed people, we are now able to really be as God always intended us to be, through faith in his Son Jesus, the living Word. Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ We may sometimes feel that we are at a disadvantage, living so long after the event. But that should not hinder us at all. The death and resurrection of the Son of God was for all and for all time. And we can ‘hear and see’ through the work of the Holy Spirit, who came to help us do just that: to show us the glory of God so that we too may be saved. Is it still a mystery? Yes. Is it still the most wonderful news? Yes. Is it the most precious and life-giving gift? Yes! It may not always be easy to take a leap of faith, but if we do, we find that we too are able to say, ‘My Lord and my God!’, knowing that we have finally come home, safe in the care of our Saviour. Amen.
Easter Day Mark 16:1-8 Isaiah 25:6-9 Acts 10:34-43Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!The acclamation of the good news of the resurrection is ringing around the globe today – in different languages – in all churches and places where Christians meet. And what a wonderful bit of good news it is! Of course, we have known about this for a very long time already, about 2,000 years – but it never fails to move at the celebration of Easter, when we commemorate the wonderful event of that first Easter morning, when the tomb in which Jesus had been laid after his death was found to be empty. The witnesses to the resurrection were recorded in the accounts of the Gospels; the first being women which adds to the authority of the recordings by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Women, as we know, were not regarded as reliable in those days, but their words were backed up by the men who came to investigate and other appearances of Jesus – too numerous to count – passed on the truth of this remarkable event to many others. The life of the Church, then formed according to the directions that Jesus had given, began properly and has been a witness to the work of God, not just on that occasion, but ever since, through the Holy Spirit. For God’s plan did not end with the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, but it continued to have an enormous effect in the world, through the work and witness of the third member of the Holy Trinity: the Holy Spirit. We shall come to talk about him later, when we focus on him at Pentecost.The readings that we are looking at today apart from the Gospel passage, are Isaiah 25 and Acts 10. In these, we are finding prophecy before ‘all this happened’ and the effects and confirmation of the resurrection afterwards in Peter’s words about the remarkable work of the Lord. They are the sandwich that holds the Gospel message together, as it were. The promise that God will ‘swallow up death’ and ‘wipe away the tears from all faces’ in Isaiah – and the reference to the prophets who ‘testify about [Jesus] that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name’ in Acts. So what is the most wonderful story ever told in the resurrection and what followed?Well, I am reminded of the old way of taking photographs, before digital cameras took over. The use of film that had to be exposed to light so that it would capture an image in fact. This film was a negative of the image that then had to be developed with the use of certain chemicals (don’t ask me about the details, I am just giving an outline here) so that a ‘positive’ of the image could be printed which was the actual ‘photograph’. I hope I am explaining it adequately enough – at least those who were born before the digital age will remember. And I like to see this as a metaphor of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to save us from the power of sin and death, by dying on the cross and rising to life on the third day. For we in effect were ‘negatives’ in the ways bad things influenced our lives. We were not the real image of true human beings as God had intended for us to be. So we needed to be exposed to the light, the true light of Christ, in order to ‘develop’ into the positive that God wanted for us. In Jesus, the negative becomes the positive; hate turns into love, hurt is healed, our cry of pain is turned into joy. Our tears are wiped away by the very hand of God, who ‘did not want to let go the work of his hands’ and who loves us with an everlasting love. And that is good news!Alleluia. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!Happy Easter
Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 Philippians 2:5-11When you follow the news – as I’m sure you do – you will have noticed that many countries are holding general and presidential elections this year. In some, the outcome is clear even before they are held, and the outcome is not necessarily a democratic one… The vox populi (the voice of the people) is not always heard or reflected in the outcome of the elections. In preparation for elections, there are hustings and the like; debates possibly on television between candidates, and an attempt of political parties and candidates to make their points as strongly and as convincingly as possible. The party programme promises that are made, are not always realistic and it is up to the people to make up their mind about them. They have to ask themselves if the direction that the candidates are saying they want to take is the right one for them and the country. Whatever the result of the election is, there will be some who are happy about it and others who are not. Time then has to tell whether the whole thing is beneficial or a total disaster… In today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel, though, it is exactly the vox populi that is heard. There isn’t an election as such, but the people have made up their mind about the change of direction that should be taken – and they are seeing Jesus as the answer to many of the questions that they have. The passage in Mark’s Gospel is painting the picture of a messianic demonstration. Jesus is entering into Jerusalem, the capital city, in fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah, of a king riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9-10). The choice of a donkey indicates peaceful intentions, where a war-horse and –chariot would have a different tone. It had quite an effect: ‘many people spread their cloaks on the road, others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ They are words from Psalm 118 (vv 25-26), giving thanks for victory over Israel’s enemies, and that was sung at the Passover Festival. So to all intents and purposes, we can see how the people had ‘cast their vote’ for Jesus, and were already celebrating the victory that they wanted him to win. They were correct in seeing in him a connection to the king of their ancestors, David; but they were wrong in the nature of his kingdom and the way Jesus would come to the throne. It would not even be the throne of the kingdom of Israel, but that of a far greater kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, established by God, not by human hands. In their attempts to change the direction of the nation, the people were saying that the status quo was wrong. They were in a state of slavery to an oppressor, Rome, and especially at the time of Passover, this would have grated. The people were to celebrate the Passover Festival, reminding them of their escape from slavery in Egypt. But their present situation was a double oppression: that of unwanted foreign rule and the wrongs of sin. Jesus was going to go to the root of their plight and deal with the way that people lived their lives. His battle was with evil itself, and his victory over the power of evil would be for the whole world and for ever. At this occasion, when Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people are spreading and waving their palm branches, the air was filled with hope – hope for a restored and independent new Israel, led by the anointed ‘son of David’. But a far greater Son was here, who would give an even greater hope: the hope of life itself. Jesus was and is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the one through whom we come to the Father. Jesus is working out God’s plan for our reconciliation and redemption. This day, Palm Sunday, is only the beginning, leading to hope and life. May you enjoy this hope and this life even now. Amen.
