Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Today I have the challenge, the privilege and the immense joy of preaching on the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I want to start by looking at the women who went to the tomb on that very first Easter morning. These women would have been accompanying Jesus and his followers (or disciples) for some time and would have witnessed some of his teachings and the events of the previous weeks.
I would like you to imagine the scene, a small group of women had gathered together to perform a specific task, that of preparing Jesus’ body for burial, a job that had been delayed so that they were able to faithfully celebrate the Passover which is an important Jewish festival.
The group of women would have probably met in the village with all the necessary spices and materials that was required for this specific task, the women would have been familiar with the task as preparing bodies for burial was women’s work. Once all the women had gathered together they would have set off from their homes to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus’ body had been laid.
As they made their way from their homes to the tomb where Jesus had been laid they would probably have been reminiscing and comforting each other.
As the women were familiar with the task at hand, they would have known what to expect, however what they found was not what they were expecting.
They were expecting to find a closed tomb, instead they found an open tomb
They were expecting to find Jesus, dead in the tomb, instead they found no body and, as St. Luke puts it, “two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening” who tells them the wonderful news that Jesus has been raised from the dead and is alive.
The women had the privilege of being the first humans to hear the news that Jesus had risen from the dead and is alive.
The women had the joy of remembering the teaching of Jesus about how he would bring eternal life to all who believe in Him and how he (Jesus) fulfilled a lot of the Old Testament promises. The women also had the joy of interacting with the presence of the divine, when the two men in gleaming clothes told them that Jesus is alive.
However, the women did not only have privileges and joy, they also faced challenges.
The women had been challenged to tell other people about what they had witnessed, this is not as simple request as it may seem,
The women had a choice, they could either respond to the challenge that they had been given, or they could ignore it. By responding to the challenge of telling others, it could be seen that they were being obedient, however this is not all as it seems. If the Roman and Jewish authorities heard that Jesus’ body had gone and that he had been raised to eternal life, then the authorities would want to respond by silencing and refuting the news. The women’s lives could have been in danger, however this was not the only challenge the women faced, the women had another challenge and that was one of making people believe what they had witnessed that first Easter morning.
I now would like you to imagine that you are one of the people that the women tell about the events that they have witnessed,
You can probably imagine the unbelief that the people hearing the news would have experienced, after all, in all other cases, once a person is dead and put in a tomb, they remain dead and unless grave robbers have plundered the tomb then the body is where they left it. If you were one of the disciples that the women told that Jesus is alive, then you probably are going to think that the women
a) Either went to the wrong tomb
or
b) That someone had stolen Jesus body
Both these situations would have been the more probable explanation and yet both of them are incorrect. The logical situation does not apply as Jesus was not just anyone, He is the son of God, who came to bring salvation to the world through his death and resurrection.
The women had the challenge of telling others that Jesus is alive and that they had gone to the correct tomb and that they heard that Jesus had risen from the dead and is alive forever more and by telling others, the women shared their joy in the resurrection of Jesus.
However, we know that the women were successful in their challenge of making the people they told, believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, if they hadn’t been successful then, we probably wouldn’t be here today.
So what can we learn from these events?
I want to look at two points.
The first point is “How we respond to events we witness?”
The women who went to the tomb on that first Easter morning were witnesses to an event that changed history, they responded to the Challenges, Privileges and Joys of witnessing the resurrection of Jesus.
In our lives, we also are witnesses to events, either in person or through the power of media we are able to witness world events. While the majority of events we witness are not world changing, some undoubtedly are, most of us can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when certain world events occurred, such as September 11th, or others further back in history.
When we witness these events, for example, the recent terrorist attacks, how do we react? Do we react in the way the terrorists want us to by fear or do we respond to the challenge with love, by compassion for those affected throughout the world? The women at the tomb responded to their challenge with love, do we do the same in the situations we witness?
The second point is the our “interaction with the divine”
The women who went to the tomb, that first Easter morning, interacted with God through the presence of angels (men dressed in gleaming clothes is how it is described in the gospel) however this is an unusual way to interact with God, for the majority of us, for the majority of the time, we do not see angels, however, every moment of our lives, we have opportunities to see God’s presence, to speak to Him and to listen to him.
Like the women who visited the tomb on the first Easter morning, we face Challenges, Privileges and Joys in our everyday life. In each of these situations there that occur in our lives, we also have the opportunity to interact with the Divine, we interact with God, or the divine, through prayer, worship and studying the scriptures.
It is always easier to interact with God, when we see Him at work, In each of our lives, every day, we have opportunities to see God at work, often by bringing new life into the world, the new life can be a new member of our family, or it can be the new life that we see when the snowdrops, crocus and daffodils come up after being dormant for months, however we see that new life, it is a sign that there is new life in Christ Jesus as he was raised from the dead and through him, there is that new life to all who believe and follow Him and that hope, that joy, that is what we celebrate this Easter day as we say ALLELUIA – Christ is Risen!
Amen
