Alive! Easter Day

Luke 24: 1-12
1 Cor 12: 19 - 26

In that most gloomy of poems, “Funeral Blues”, WH Auden concludes with a dark note of despair;

“The stars are not wanted now, put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

The closest friends of Jesus must have felt just like that on Good Friday. Their friend and leader had been well and truly killed. The hopes that they had invested in him, had been completely destroyed. The world as they knew it had caved in. Surely, nothing now would ever come to any good.

Too often, we see the inbetween Saturday as a time of waiting for the resurrection of Easter Day. But too those who were closest to Jesus, there was no expectation or anticipation - only desolation!

And so, the events of Easter Day were to them, absolutely astounding. The women had come to the tomb in order to complete the rites of burial. It was with heavy hearts that they came to that tomb. Yet what happened there, was to turn their lives upside down. Now there are variation of the story in the various Gospels. This is hardly surprising as often we have different memories of earth shattering events in our lives. We know that where there is no variations in the accounts of witnesses, our courts often suspect a degree of collusion between them.

Now in Luke’s account, we find the women ( please note that it women who are consistently the first witnesses to the resurrection) encounter two dazzling figures. Such figures would to Luke’s readers have been seen as angels. But most significant is the message that they offer. It is the message that the Jesus whom they have seen killed, has been raised from the dead. The impossible had happened.

Hear again those words:

“ Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here, but he has risen.”

Yes, that is the message of Easter. The Jesus who had been killed is not a dead leader who belongs to the pages of history but he is a living Lord who is as relevant to the present and the future as he is to the past.

Now the disciples seem to have struggled to believe the good news from the women. I can’t help wondering if the church instead of debating whether women are Biblically entitled to share in church leadership, might be seen as being more in touch with the resurrection accounts by questioning whether men are so entitled. But perhaps one of the important things about the resurrection is that if we at times struggle to understand and believe in it, we are following the path of those closest to Christ. For them it was at first too good to be true. Yet ultimately, they came to experience for themselves that it was quite simply the best news ever!

In the next few weeks, we will be seeking to discover something of the meaning of the resurrection. Today is primarily a day for celebration. The reflection can wait. Still here is just a quick taster.

The resurrection is God’s Yes to everything that Jesus said and did. Think of the Jesus who gave hope and meaning to the nobodies. Well, by raising Jesus from the dead, God has declared a thunderous YES to all of that.

The resurrection speaks of a God who can change things. It speaks of a God who can change our sorrow into dancing. It tells of a God who can lift us up from despair and give us hope.

The resurrection tells us that whilst death is very real and not to be trivialised, it is not the final word. The Apostle Paul sees the resurrection as a first fruit. Christ being raised from the dead is a prelude to the resurrection of the dead. His resurrection gives us a confident faith that in love God will raise us to new life when our time in this world is up.

And finally, the resurrection tells us that set free from the fear of death, we are set free to work for God’s loving purposes in this world. We are called to follow the loving path set for us by the living Christ.

Years ago, there was an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to destroy Christianity and other religions in the Soviet Union. An Atheist League was even formed by the ruling Communist party. On one occasion in the 1930s, one of the leaders named Nikolai Bukharin lectured a large crowd on why they should reject Christianity. At great length, he used his formidable oratorical skills to make his case. At the end he invited questions. Amidst the silence, one man stepped forward. Surveying the crowd before him, he shouted out;

“Christ is risen!”

And back as loud as thunder came the response;

“He is risen indeed!”

And that is why the despair of Auden’s poem cannot be the last word.


This sermon is an Easter Day sermon for Bideford Methodist Church preached on April 8th 2007.