Easter Sunday Morning In Ad 33

Swayfield 20-04-2025

Sermon

Before I was a Vicar, I was a patent lawyer.

So I am keen on evidence.

And I do believe we have a reasonable faith

And the more I think about it, the most reasonable explanation for my Christian faith is that Jesus died and rose from the dead.

For that reason Easter is more important than Christmas, because you cannot divorce Christmas from Easter if you are going to have a reasoned faith.

Indeed if Jesus wasn’t a special person, why bother with Christmas - why celebrate the birth of a child born 2,000 years ago?

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The Russian Orthodox Church has a wonderful tradition at Easter

On Easter Sunday the Priest says: “He is risen”

And the congregation reply:

“He is risen, indeed”

But how do we know it true?

A former English House of Lords’ judge, Lord Darling said speaking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ said this

” In its favour as living truth, there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is true “ (p. 40 of Nicky Gumbel’s Questions of Life)

Most Sundays many of us profess our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead when we say the words of the Creed:

“ I believe ..….in Jesus Christ,

his only Son our Lord who was

Conceived by the Holy Spirit,

Born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, dead and buried

He descended into Hell;

The third day he rose again from the dead”

(The Apostles Prayer - BCP)

But do we know why we believe it

I believe it first and foremost because of the impact the Christian Church has had in the world.

When Jesus was crucified on the Cross, his band of followers were scattered.

After all, Galilee was a hotbed of unrest and false Messiahs sprang up everywhere.

And once they were killed, their movements died with them.

Gamaliel the famous Jewish rabbi once said this about such leaders:

“Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.

After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led band of people in revolt.

He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.

Therefore, in the present case I advise you:

Leave these men alone! Let them go!

For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.

But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”(Acts 5:34-39)

Professor Charlie Moule, the famous NT theologian once said:

"the birth and rapid rise of the Christian Church ... remains an unsolved enigma for any historian who refuses to take seriously the only explanation offered by the church itself - the resurrection." (C.F.D. Moule, The Phenomenon of the New Testament).

The Resurrection is a major pillar of our faith

St. Paul put it like this:

“..if Christ has not been raised from the dead, your faith is futile” (I Cor. 15: 17)

St. Paul, a first Century witness, records the importance of the Easter story.

He wrote this in 1 Corinthians

”For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:

i) that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

ii) that he was buried,

iii) that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and

iv) that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve

After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Cor. 15:3-8).

Paul records 513 (five hundred and thirteen) men as having seen the risen Lord.

And 514 if you count Mary Magdalene.

She has been described as the Apostle to the Apostles as she was the first person to see the Risen Jesus

Story: In April 2004 whilst over in Pfarrwangen in Switzerland - I went for a walk with a good friend of Maddy and mine, Pfr Philipp Nanz.

Philipp was at the time the Swiss Reformed pastor of that village – and while Maddy and Philip’s late wife Suzy went horse riding, we went for a walk.

And we started discussing Islam, and got onto the subject of what makes Christianity distinctive?

How does Christianity differ from other religions?