Readings
- Acts 10:34–43
- Colossians 3:1–4
- John 20:1–18
It is a hard soul who can contemplate the torture and crucifixion of Jesus without being moved. And who can come to news of his resurrection without being given hope. Just as, In the midst of our current crisis it is not statistics that matter most, but the stories of individuals and families going through such suffering and loss. And those who have recovered from the near death of ICU on a ventilator are celebrated as signs of hope for all of us.
Something more than Empathy
We can all come to Good Friday and to Easter day with the same deep empathetic involvement: moved to tears and sorrow at the Cross and dancing with joy before the empty tomb. But Jesus death and his resurrection life are about so much more than this.
He is risen! Hallelujah, Christ is risen!
But, if you will forgive me putting it like, this … so what? What is the real difference to you, and me?
A Mystery to Unfold
We stand, as Christians now, with the benefit of so much in the New Testament that explains the meaning of this Resurrection. But on that first day it was different. The resurrection is the climax to Jesus’ work in his earthly ministry, but it did not happen with one big bang – with everyone rejoicing together. That day was a chaotic mixture of comings and goings, misunderstanding and faith, fear and joy.
It was going to take many days more of Jesus showing himself to his Disciples for the reality of what had happened to begin to dawn on the Disciples. Many, like Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Peter and more, would have their own meeting with Jesus. Even when a huge crowd saw Jesus taken into heaven, some doubted. And, as Peter discovered weeks alter in our reading from Acts, the true implications would take much longer than one day to be unfolded.
So, as we celebrate today, I could ask what the resurrection is about, and I am sure many of us would give a good answer, but I am wary of thinking that we truly understand its meaning yet. We may be a long way from the simple empathy of spectators, weeping at the sorrow of the cross and rejoicing at the resurrection as a sign that life goes on. But, I am sure, that there is more in the new reality that this day brings – that is certainly what the resurrection brings, a new reality – that we have yet to come to know and live.
WHY?
Why did Jesus die, and why was he resurrected?
All that Jesus did, from his incarnation through to his death and resurrection is for a purpose – actually, for many purposes, though perhaps they have one central purpose.
Certainly, it was to obtain the forgiveness of our sins, as peter says, so “that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” But that is only the beginning. Without that, nothing else of all God’s glorious purposes for us in Christ are possible, but what are those purposes.
John Piper has written a brief book “The Passion of Jesus Christ” in which he sets out (from scripture) 50 reasons for Jesus’ death and resurrection. And, as I have read it again, I have recognized that these 50 reasons are not exhaustive.
What does it mean for you?
Hidden within this first ‘why’, is a further question. What does it all mean for you? What difference has Jesus death and resurrection made for you, what difference is it now making for you, what difference will it make for you as your life unfolds?
The resurrection is a reality change for the whole of creation. It is a reality that can, for a time, be embraced or rejected. One day its reality – the risen Jesus – will come to this world in glory. He will confront all who have rejected him and hardened their hearts and he will welcome all who have embraced his new reality and been transformed by it.
So, I am eager this morning, that none of us should miss the depths of riches for life that are hidden in the mystery of Jesus resurrection.
A Living Hope
In Colossians, we hear that our life has been changed by this new reality in Jesus. So, the life that you now have in Jesus is hidden with him in God. There is something not yet fully revealed in this hidden life. So, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. You are new and being made new in Christ, and what your truly are in him is yet to be revealed.
Peter expresses it like this:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead …” (1 Pet 1:3)
Living Hope
Through his resurrection, Jesus has brought us to life – a radical life-change that is like being born again – and this life is described as Living Hope.
Our hope is truly ours in Christ – perfected and kept for us as an inheritance, imperishable, undefiled and unfading. And we are being kept, through faith in Jesus, until it is revealed to us in his coming. But now, in the meanwhile, it is not just a future hope, but a hope that lives in us now.
Such is the weight of glory in this hope that nothing that happens to us in what we know now – coronavirus or other sickness, loss and grief, fear and weakness, suffering and persecution – none of it compares to the hope that lives in us and for which we long.
Set your Hearts and Minds on it
No wonder God says, set your hearts and minds on the things above; the hope that is kept for us, the life that is hidden waiting to be revealed.
So, as we rejoice this Easter Day don’t settle for a simple joy in the fact that Jesus is alive. Let us pray that God will unfold to us, just as he did for those first disciples, all the height and depth and length and breadth of his purposes towards us in Christ.
We won’t get it all today, just as those disciples didn’t. It is for today and tomorrow and the next day; forgetting what lies behind and pressing on towards the upwards call of God in Christ Jesus. It may take closed church buildings and much more, but set your hearts and minds on Christ and he will bring you to it.
A Hope to Share
And, one final thought; on that day not everyone saw or understood, but people told people what they had seen. This was a living hope that lived and grew as it was shared. Let us share it too today.
Not everyone gets it. Not everyone gets it at once – some, like Thomas longer than others. Perhaps that’s why Jesus did not reveal himself to everyone, but only to a chosen few. So that they would share this living Hope as they received it. It is grace, mercy and extraordinary patience that has called to us and now calls through us.
Then, on the day that our life is revealed in his appearing, our joy will be all the greater, because it is shared
The Unfolding Mystery of life … in Jesus Christ
So, this Easter Day, let us celebrate and rejoice in what we have come to know. And let us press on together to discover the unfolding mystery of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; in us, in our churches and for all our world.
Hallelujah, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed, hallelujah!