Second Sunday of Easter Acts 4: 32-35 John 20: 19-endFor some people getting into trouble just happens once, or maybe twice. For others it is almost a way of life. Virtually everything that they touch or do causes them to get into trouble – “can’t do right for doing wrong”. If one is lucky the misdemeanour will soon be forgotten, wiped away never to be brought up again. For others the wrong-doing will be remembered for years and years – “do you remember what happened last time?”During Holy Week we listened to the reading telling us about Peter. He followed Jesu after his arrest and loitered in a courtyard to see what would happen. Unfortunately for him he was recognised as one of the followers of Jesus. Upon being acknowledged as one of the followers he denied the claim. He was fearful of his life. There was a great danger that he too would be arrested alongside Jesus. Here Peter was in trouble. Three time over in fact because he denied knowing Jesus three times. For this Perter is remembered not only for the years of his own generation but for centuries afterwards. No doubt he will be remembered for this, not for just a short while, but for the whole of Christianity.Now we have another one who has eternal remembrance thrust upon him. Poor old Thomas. He missed the boat when Jesus first appeared to the disciples. He would not believe the evidence of his fellow disciples when they told him about the Risen Lord. He required the evidence of his own hands. Doubting Thomas became his known name, and he carries that with him also throughout eternity.Do we wish similar notoriety? Do we wish to be remembered throughout the future alongside people like – well, choose one yourself. A name remembered for their evil ways and there are plenty of them. Or would you prefer to be remembered for your acts of kindness, alongside Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale and so on. These are people who will be remembered for years and years.Thomas gained his notoriety because he did not believe what his fellow disciples were telling him. Jesus had risen. Not only that but Jesus had approached them in the room that they were hiding in. They had seen Jesus with their own eyes. But he would not believe. He wanted to see for himself. He wanted to touch the wounds. Until he did he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.Two thousand years have now passed since this episode with Thomas. In that time hundreds of millions of people have read the witness of the disciples of Jesus. They have read of the works of the disciples which they did following their encounter with the Lord. Looking back through history some believers in turn became well known, giving their life through martyrdom, through a great ability to teach of the faith. It is this that strengthened all of them. Their faith. A faith that has transcended time, passed from generation to generation.We are a part of that faith line. From the moment that we learnt for ourself of Jesus we become a part of the chain of faith that is travelling through time. Yes, time travel is possible! At least it is when we look at the Christian faith.Jesus Christ is Risen! It was proclaimed around the world last week. Our hearts rejoice that Jesus is showing us the way. He has passed through death and has shown us the way. This is our faith. It is a faith that has been handed down from generation to generation. It is a faith that continues. We have played our part and shared our faith with others. In so doing the faith ‘pool’ grows.Jesus appeared to the disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” It is a normal everyday eastern greeting. But its meaning is far deeper than ‘May you be saved from trouble’. It means ‘May God give you every good thing’. It is this peace that we pass to each other Sunday by Sunday.Alleluia Christ is Risen! AlleluiaCollect for the Second Sunday of EasterAlmighty Father,you have given your only Son to die for our sinsand to rise again for our justification:grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickednessthat we may always serve youin pureness of living and truth;through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
Easter Day Acts 10: 34-43 Mark 16: 1-8Alleluia! Christ is Risen. We may shout this from the rooftops, from the heights of the hills and mountains, we may spread the message far and wide. Yes, Jesus is risen from the dead and in so doing has shown us all the way to the heavenly kingdom.In rising Jesus has shown us new life. This is amplified as we look about us. There are spring lambs jumping about in the field, the trees are in bud as we await the colourful blossom, the flowers are bringing colour into the gardens and hedgerows. In addition there is the covert sneaking a nibble at an Easter Egg before getting caught – “wait until after ….”Jesus Christ is Risen. The stone sealing the tomb has been moved and the tomb is bare. Fright and astonishment may have overwhelmed them. However, there was a young man sat in the tomb who gave the women at the tomb words of comfort. He told them that Jesus, whom had been crucified, has been raised. They will see him just as he had told them. The Resurrection of Jesus is the central fact of the whole of the Christian faith. Think back to poor Peter who had denied Jesus. He must have been wracked with guilt; his soul must have been tortured beyond belief. But here, from the very tomb of Jesus, the young man told the women who had come to the tomb, “Tell his disciples, and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee”.Upon hearing this message imagine the pure and unadulterated joy that Peter must have felt. The relief must have been quite out of this world. This is the joy that we also can share. Jesus is the Risen Lord. It does not matter how much sin we have gathered upon our shoulders. As Jesus looked kindly upon Peter so he does upon us. our sins were washed away when he was on the Cross. Then we also may share in the joy that Peter felt.This Easter dig into that Easter Egg, the symbol of new life, and rejoice in the new life given to us by Jesus.Gill and I wish you God’s blessing and a very Happy Easter.Collect for Easter DayLord of all life and power,who through the mighty resurrection of your Sonovercame the old order of sin and deathto make all things new in him:grant that we, being dead to sinand alive to you in Jesus Christ,may reign with him in glory;to whom with you and the Holy Spiritbe praise and honour, glory and might,now and in all eternity.
Easter Eve 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 John 13: 1-17, 31b-35I remember being taken to my first professional football match. It was Birmingham City playing against Tottenham Hotspur. I followed ‘The Spurs’. The ball was kicked around from one end of the field to the other and eventually a goal was scored by ‘The Spurs’. I immediately started to wave my arms and cheer only to change to scratching my head and coughing. No one else around me seemed happy that a goal was scored. I was at the wrong end. I was surrounded by ‘City’ fans and I would have been well and truly dealt with should I have continued to cheer. Well, I didn’t know!Jesus has been crucified. But might things have been different. Both Nicodemus and Joseph were members of the Sanhedrin. They were also secret disciples of Jesus. When the Sanhedrin met to examine Jesus they were either absent from the meeting or kept silent from the events as the charge was formulated against Jesus for fear of retribution. If they had spoken out would it have made any difference?The deed was done. Jesus had been crucified. Jospeh put his fear behind him and asked for the body of Jesus. Nicodemus brought herbs and spices as was required for the dead. They put behind them the fear of punishment that Pilate might bring upon them. Gone was the time to be a coward, to hesitate, to hide behind whatever cloak they could find.Is not the effect that Jesus has upon people? The power of the Cross was beginning to operate, drawing people closer to Jesus. Even though Jesus had been dead for just a few hours his body had been claimed and treated according to the Jewish rites.As we read of the immediate post-crucifixion events we can begin to understand the power that the Cross held. Those who previously had behaved in a cowardly fashion came forward in a new found strength taking centre stage in the retrieval of the body of Jesus. They, who at first wavered about which way to go, took the final decision to look after Jesus.The Cross can give us strength too. Almost wherever you are the Cross can be seen on a church, or maybe where two lines meet on the road, for instance, making a cross shape. Turning to the Cross can give us strength. When we are weak it can help us onwards. Do you wear a Cross around your neck, or as studs in your ears – you carry the Cross with you, you have a constant reminder, you have a constant power source with you.As you go about your daily life seek out the Cross and bathe in its power. Collect for Easter EveGrant, Lord,that we who are baptized into the death of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christmay continually put to death our evil desires and be buried with him; and that through the grave and gate of deathwe may pass to our joyful resurrection;through his merits,who died and was buried and rose again for us,your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Good Friday series of Homilies Isaiah 52.13 – end 53Jesus entered Jerusalem and was acclaimed by the people at the roadside. Shortly afterwards he became the victim of abuses and insults. Making his way to the Cross he carried, not only the Cross but also those hurts that had been shouted at him, the verbal abuse. Those stripes were cast upon him, an extra burden. He carried his stripes to the place of his crucifixion.In the passage from Isaiah we learn that by the bruises he suffered, the wounds that he endured, punishments were made upon him, punishments that made us whole. ‘By his bruises we are healed’. Those wounds inflicted upon him removed from us the wounds that we carry. But did he remove from us the physical wounds that may have been inflicted upon us as we travel along the path of life? Did he remove from our souls the spiritual wounds that we have encountered?The answer has to be yes to both questions. In one of the gospel writings it is very much physical healing, and in the first letter of Peter spiritual healing is the view. The burden that Jesus is carrying is being carried for you and me. A healing of our physical wounds and our spiritual wounds are on his shoulders.That healing is promised to us all. Completely and without any reservation, healing is God’s promise to each end every one of us. the Bible tells us that we have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved. The ultimate healing is resurrection. A promise made to every believer. We may receive ‘roadside repairs’ to keep us going but it is the ultimate healing that will come to us. healing given to us through Jesus on the Cross. Hebrews 10: 16-25 We are back to promises as we read the passage from the Hebrews. Again, God has promised that he will not forget us, he will not cast us aside. His law, given to us, he will write in our hearts. He will write it in our minds. Our sinful path will no more be counted against us. As we learnt in the first Good Friday homily we have been given spiritual healing in addition to physical healing. Our healing comes with the words, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more”.We can now stand before God our Father in true cleanliness. Our sins have been removed from us. We are cleansed in both body and soul. We can approach the sanctuary, through the blood of Jesus, and with our hearts sprinkled clean from any evil conscience. We carry with us that hope, a certainty, that we have a great high priest who looks over us. A high priest that we can approach with truth in our hearts. This we can do because of that promise made to us.So cleansed and healed we are now able to go out and encourage all whom we meet to devote their life to love and to good deeds. About us we will see those who turn their backs to any form of social duty. Those who are not willing to go out of their way to give help where it can be seen to be useful. That is their habit, their way of life. But we, fill our lives with encouragement, for ourselves, and for each other, ready to step forward in the name of Jesus. John 18.1- end 19 Many of us have a ‘secret place’, actually not all that secret as probably half of Exeter knows of it, but somewhere we drive to for some peace and quiet. A place to escape from the everyday life of telephone ringing and the adverts played as you listen to some calming and quiet music on the radio.Jesus knew of such a place, and he would visit there with his disciples. It was a place with a garden. It was also, ironically, the place where Jesus was to be betrayed. Soldiers and police were taken there to arrest him and Jesus, knowing what was about to happen stepped forward to be bound.When the soldiers were asked for whom they were looking they answered ‘Jesus of Nazareth’. Jesus replied, ‘I am he’. Here he declared his divine identity. Here, in the garden, there was such a display of divine presence, of majesty and of power that those who were the enemies of Jesus, confronting him in the garden, were powerless to stand against him.Jesus stood there in lowliness and humility. Before him were the guards and soldiers, armed and ready to take him away. Yet, in this picture we have before us we also see something of the majesty of his glory. It was something that all around must have perceived as they fell before him. His extra dignity, his calmness of reply, must have profoundly affected everyone.When faced with adversity there are time when we might feel ready to burst out, to proclaim loudly our innocence. Jesus just stood there and said, ‘I am he’. In calmness (after the occasion of Malchus losing his ear) he was led away after saying to Peter, ‘am I not to drink the cup that the father has given me’. His work had to be completed, work set for him by his Father.Collect for Good FridayAlmighty Father,look with mercy on this your familyfor which our Lord Jesus Christ wascontent to be betrayed and given up intothe hands of sinners and to suffer deathupon the cross;who is alive and glorified with you andthe Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
