(a sermon for Easter Day 2023 Seaford John 20.1-18
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
Mary goes to the tomb, its empty, it makes no sense, she runs back to the others
Peter and John come running –
Peter goes inside and sees – yes that its empty but there are the grave clothes – but then John goes in and he sees all this and he believes.
John believes and he does not understand.
What John would have seen is something akin to a flat cocoon. Wrap a body in cloths, and then remove that body and the cloths just fall flat. And the cloth that was wrapped around the head, that is separate, like there is a gap.
John knows that he is looking at a miracle. John knows that Jesus has been raised from the dead – He knows that this is more than what he saw when Jesus raised Lazarus.
I bet he whispered to himself
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
And the implication of this – just for John– is that he renames himself as – ‘The one Jesus loved’. The one Jesus loved.
What John means by that is that the only truth about John that now matters, is that he, John, is loved by Jesus.
He does not care about his name anymore, he isn’t worried about anything anymore, death doesn’t scare him,
John knows that the grave will have no victory today, not today over Jesus, and not ever even over this man John because John knows that he is loved by Jesus.
For John, this is a moment where his life restarts, he no longer sees himself through the lens of his own, faults, failings, shame, struggles and sins,
John now sees himself through the love of Jesus.
Sin and death and guilt and shame are not the things that get to define John –
John is now defined as the One Jesus loved.
And that is a gift of the resurrection to you even today.
I bet throughout this day John kept whispering to himself “Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
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You have to admire Peter – Peter saw, he does not know what to believe, and he certainly does not understand. But then just a few pages further on in the bible, you heard it in the first reading, Peter stands up to preach, and you can tell that now Peter believes and now he also understands and here are the basics of what Peter understands –
So, this is for Peter the key implications of what it means to say
“Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
1The Resurrection tells us – says Peter – that God has no favourites, that God loves each and every nation – that’s a bit of a blow to Nationalists everywhere – to discover not merely that God loves the English, He also loves the French, and so on.
2The Resurrection tells us – says Peter – that Jesus is Good News – and that means Peace – and if your faith in Jesus leads you in another direction, towards hate, favouritism, exclusion, then you’re doing it wrong.
3The Resurrection means that the ministry of Jesus that was full of Healing power – that’s here to stay – After you have received HC you might want to come to the side chapel where you can receive further prayer and blessing.
4The Resurrection means that Jesus is Judge, Judge of the living and the dead – and that is really good news – because it liberates you and me from being judgemental. It liberates us from weight of revenge.
Yes, there’s going to be a judgement but if you want anyone to judge you, then you want that person to be Jesus.
5The Resurrection means forgiveness of sins. And Peter knows the power of this more than most – having denied knowing Jesus, to his face, and now to know that Jesus has restored Peter, forgiven Peter, renewed Peter.
And this same transforming gift is ours through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
You can bet that Peter was very glad to say –
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
Mary sees the cloths but she’s still distressed.
Mary sees two angels in white but she’s still distressed. She’s so distressed that you have to wonder how long Jesus had been standing in front of her, and finally speaking her name, and finally his voice breaks through all the noise that is understandably going on inside of her head– and Mary blurts out ‘Rabboni’ – which is such a cute thing to say.
John tells us that this word means ‘Teacher’. It’s a diminutive, a term of affection, it means My own personal friendly little rabbi. It’s sweet, endearing sign of just how very important Jesus is to Mary.
She gives Jesus the biggest hug ever – well of course you would – there is a lot of healing power and love to be had in a hug.
And Jesus says- Its okay, it is me, you don’t need to squeeze so tightly.
This is just the happiest moment. This is when for Mary the catastrophe that was the crucifixion is now seen to be a Eucatastrophe – Good Friday.
This is the encounter that we have in worship, in the sacrament, this is the gift of the Resurrection
You can bet that she was now thinking – Oh my gosh – Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
Jesus says – I have not finished, you’re going to have to let go of me, so go and tell My brothers that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to My God and Your God.
Its hard to convey how powerful that is. Jesus is not saying something geographically or spiritually interesting.
I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to My God and Your God.
He is saying – You are In. You are part of the family. You are accepted, forgiven, loved.
This is a bit like but it is more than Mi Casa Su Casa. My father and your father. This is more than saying ‘We are brothers, and sisters, we’re good’.
The last time Jesus saw the disciples they were scattering, they were in despair, their whole understanding of Jesus had just been thrown up into the air, they were not sure whether to give up on Jesus and go back to fishing and normal, or what have you.
And Jesus says tell them – I am going to My Father and Your Father.
It’s a wonderful moment of reconciliation, of restoration – this is another gift of the resurrection.
You can be sure that Mary was thinking:
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
Does it ever strike you as odd – especially those of you who have ever grieved for someone that you have loved and lost – in which case you may have a teensy idea of what some of these Disciples are going through.
Now add into that some guilt and shame and ‘we weren’t there for Jesus’,
Now add to that an understandable sense of hate and vengeance – is there any way that we can get our own back on any of the people who were involved in the death of Jesus?.
And yet we see from the earliest of times that their response to the resurrection is so filled with forgiveness and love that they go right out there and preach love and forgiveness to anyone who will hear it.
This was the powerful effect of the reality of the resurrection on those first disciples. This is the forgiving, loving, healing impact of realising that
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!
It is just overwhelming. Their lives are transformed. They are forgiven and filled with such love that they are able to forgive such unspeakable cruelty from just the week before.
The resurrection of Jesus utterly changed them and from them to the known world – from Jerusalem through Africa and even to us British, here on the edge of their map.
May you receive afresh, receive, the gift of the resurrection, the gift of the Resurrection – the gift of knowing that you’re loved in Jesus and that matters more than your past, and it matters more than any fears that the future can throw at you
May you know the deep power of the peace and healing and forgiveness that comes with the Resurrection
May you come to receive the acceptance and reconciliation that we find in the resurrection, in Jesus
Because we believe that
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Hallelujah!