Sermon preached by The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Easter Day
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
“Hail, Thee, Festival Day, blest day that art hallowed for ever; day whereon Christ arose, breaking the kingdom of death.” This is the day that turned the disciples of Jesus from being fearful, defeated human beings into powerful proclaimers of the Gospel. This is the day when sin and death are defeated, and we are reconciled to God. This is the day when “Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave.” This is the day that changed the course of history. We are here today because our lives have been changed for ever because of the risen Christ who is alive and lives in us. Alleluia!
The followers of Jesus had thought that it was all over. This man Jesus, whom they had hoped was the Messiah, had been brutally put to death. They had spent the last three years putting all of their hope in him, learning everything he had to teach them, witnessing his miracles, following him to Jerusalem. They had believed that he was chosen, anointed by God, to free Israel from the hated Roman government and make of it a great nation once again.
Now those hopes were dashed. He had predicted that he would be raised, but they had assumed that meant some time in the distant future when all would be raised from the dead in a general resurrection. No, this was clearly a defeat. Their aim now was to escape being identified as one of his followers and made to suffer the same fate.
The reality of the resurrection became quickly known among the disciples. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early Sunday morning and discovered that it was empty. She assumed the body of Jesus had been removed for some reason—just one more insult to her beloved Master. Simon Peter, and John, when hearing what Mary had found, themselves went to the tomb and found it empty. Then it dawned on John that Jesus must have risen. Then Mary encountered the risen Lord in the garden, mistaking him at first as the gardener, then realizing it was Jesus when he called her name.
That night, the risen Lord appeared to the disciples who had gathered together and for the next several days appeared off and on to many, until on the 40th day he ascended into heaven.
We are told quite a bit about the resurrected body of Jesus in scripture. First of all, his physical body was raised, and yet it was different than it had been in his earthly life. He could appear and disappear. It was definitely a spiritual body now. Apparently it was different enough that he could be recognized when he wanted to be, but when he didn’t want to be he wasn’t recognized, as with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. And even though it was a spiritual body, he could still eat with his disciples. His body definitely had substance, for he invited Thomas to stick his fingers in the marks of the nails and to place his hand in his side, where the sword had pierced through. In this glimpse into the resurrected Jesus, we are given an idea of what we can hope for in our own resurrection on the Last Day.
The resurrection is at the heart of the Christian faith. Some believe that the Church manufactured the idea of the resurrection in order to justify its existence. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Church came into existence precisely because of the resurrection. All of the writings of the New Testament bear witness to this central reality. Had there been no resurrection, there would be no Church.
Thus, the Church and the resurrection go hand in hand. As the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said, “It is all too easy to mock the Church and to say with George Tyrell, ‘I could welcome Christ if he did not come with his leprous bride, the Church.’ Even though George Tyrell was not talking about the Church of England, we are aware that our Church, any church, is far from perfect. God takes ordinary, sinful men and women like you and me and fashions us into his people.”
I believe in the resurrection because of the witness of scripture and because I have experienced the presence of the risen Christ in my own life. And I believe in the resurrection not in spite of the Church, with all of its faults, but because of the Church, and specifically, right now, because of you. I see the risen Christ in you; in the selfless way that you care for one another and in the passion you have to help the poor and the needy. We have just finished Lent, when we emphasize turning from our sin and turning toward God. I see the risen Christ in the way that so many truly are penitent, truly are sorrowful for their sin, and are making great efforts in growing spiritually. I see the risen Christ in the love you have for our Lord Jesus Christ, and his Church.
That love is certainly obvious today. Look at this church. Everywhere you look our ladies have adorned this place of worship with flowers, and flowers are symbols of the resurrection. Our choirs proclaim it in their beautiful music. And at the altar is the magnificent new rug made by our needlepointers, who spent literally thousands of hours making this new, beautiful rug.
While the people who decorated the church, our choirs, and our needlepointers may not have thought about it exactly in this way, they have done it all because our Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, because everything we do in the Church is because of that reality. And so, everywhere we look we see evidence of the resurrection!
When you get right down to it, however, belief in the resurrection is a matter of faith. One can look at the Church and find many reasons not to believe; I look at the Church and I find many reasons to believe. One can look at scripture and believe what it says, or one can see it as the product of wishful thinking. One can believe he or she feels the presence of God; someone else thinks it indigestion. Either way, it’s a matter of faith. I can’t prove that Jesus is risen, but you can’t prove he isn’t! And which is the better way to live? As if scripture is true, or as if the way of the world is true? I vote for the former!
For those who believe, the risen Christ is with us. He is here as his Body is gathered for worship. He is here through his Word read and proclaimed. And he will be present in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. We will meet the risen Christ anew as we receive Him in the Sacrament. “And so, to him who sits upon the throne, and to Christ the Lamb, be worship and praise, dominion and splendor, for ever and for evermore.”