On Friday the tomb was closed and sealed. We left the disciples deserted, despairing, denying, and doubting. Then came the dawn of that Sunday morning . Some women arrive at the tomb and see angels before heading off to tell the other disciples back at Bethany. On the way, they meet Jesus.
Mary Magdalene seems to have already fled and misses the angels. She takes a different route to find Peter and John probably in Jerusalem. She thinks the body is missing The three run back. Peter and John look into the tomb and believe. Mary is left Mary weeping at the tomb side.
She sees Jesus and she thinks he is the gardener. Note that one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the resurrection was that no-one was expecting it. She asks him where the body is/ He answers “Mary”. She recognises his voice and wants to hold onto him. He tells her not to cling to him She is sent to go and tell the others
She announces “I have seen the Lord”
The difference that Easter made for the first followers
- Mary moves from weeping and questioning to speaking for Jesus
- Peter from denial and shame to forgiveness at the lakeside, responsibility and bold preaching at Pentecost
- Thomas from scepticism to belief.
Their lives have been turned around it is meeting with the risen Jesus that makes a difference.. What about us?
The difference that the resurrection makes for us
My story is that as -a five-year-old I put my trust in Jesus. I realised that I needed him to be my saviour. I couldn’t inherit my parents’ faith. That was 45 years ago today! The resurrection of Jesus made a difference in my life that has lasted since because it is not just about the Gospel for salvation. It’s the good news for the whole of life
In fact, the big picture throughout the Bible is death and resurrection pointing to Jesus (Luke 24). This means that our own lives in Christ are “death and resurrection” shaped with lots of mini experiences of death and resurrection along the way. Personally, I can talk about multiple experiences, some of which you might identify with.
In 2019, I remember being hit by depression one Sunday morning like being hit by a ten-ton truck. Suddenly I was doubled up weeping and then signed off work. What kept me going when darkness seemed to be my closest friend was knowing that I wasn’t alone in the pit and that Scripture says that there may be tears for the night but joy comes in the morning.
Redundancy feels like death doesn’t it? Often our identity gets wrapped up in our work. For me, it could have been harder because I was serving in full time church ministry. It was in the middle of the pandemic. However, God had spoken to me a few minutes before the call came about a meeting with our trustees, telling me that this period was coming to close, that I was going to have to die to that job but know my identity was hid in Christ and there was new life and new purpose ahead.
Knowing that “for me to live is Christ, to die is gain” was what enabled my mum to face death without fear, knowing that she was going home and for us, it meant that we got to experience something of heaven in the hospital tomb. I’ve heard people say that Jesus waits for us on the other side but more than that, our experience was that he came to take mum home. As the Easter hymn says “Lo Jesus greets us, risen from the dead.” We do not grieve as those without hope but in sure and certain hope of the resurrection.
In each of these, the big theme has been knowing that there is the big picture of death and resurrection in my own life. I could face each of those death like situations knowing that death, whether physical or more metaphorically speaking does not get the final word. And even in my circumstances I could enjoy foretastes of resurrection now.
This is true in every circumstance. It’s true whether we face singleness or marriage, children or childlessness. Getting married and having children is testimony through small acts of faith in a chaotic world that we have hope.
At the same time these things can be hard, what if you find yourself single and you really don’t want to be. We can assume that gets easier with time but it doesn’t. I remember a lady in her 90s telling me once “I always had hoped to find someone but I never did and it still hurts now.” She said that without bitterness or regret but with a genuine sense of pain. Resurrection hope means that.
- Jesus says that in the resurrection we will be like the angels not getting/being married. We need to know that marriage is for now, for the time in between. It’s not the permanent thing. It’s not heaven.
- The church together is the bride, we all get to have that white wedding day
Similarly, there’s a little verse in Paul’s letters to Timothy about the woman being saved through childbirth. It’s confused people and caused lots of debate. I think the crucial point is this. In a chaotic world where having children was seen as dangerous, there was hope in the little step of having a baby. Perhaps you can identify with that. It feels a bit risky to be starting a family and maybe unfair with inflation climate change and Trump and Putin’s fingers on the nuclear buttons Yet having children, whatever stage you are at is a positive expression of the hope we have.
And there are many of us who have experienced childlessness. It can feel really hard to be there and listen to the testimonies of those who have been given the unexpected miracle of children, just as it can be hard to hear testimonies of healing when that doesn’t look to be happening for you.
One of the fruits of resurrection is that we are brought into God’s big family and receive a multitude of mums and dads, brothers and sisters and sons and daughters too But there is also something special about fostering and adoption. There are things that are death like about the experience of many children, abandoned, neglected, harmed then torn away so that the family they knew dies. Adoption for Christians points to resurrection hope, a new family, a kind of mini resurrection.
Conclusion
Mary goes back to the disciples and says “I have seen the Lord”. That’s the good news of Easter. We get to meet the risen Jesus too and to be united with him in his death and resurrection. Where do you need to know something of that new life, resurrection power this morning?
Faithroots 