Sermon
delivered at Holy Trinity Church, East Grimstead, Wiltshire on Sunday 1st April
2018 (Easter Sunday)
Acts 10:34-43b; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8
Alleluia,
Christ is Risen! May my words come from God and may they bless all who hear
them on this day of Resurrection! Amen
“It is finished!”;
so ended our reflections on the dark rainy afternoon of Good Friday. Those
words heard by the centurion at the foot of the Cross as he waited for Christ
to die.
“It
is finished!” not “I am finished” but “it is finished!” Some translation from the Greek read “it is accomplished” - perhaps a better translation than that
which are probably more familiar with; and as we know today Jesus was far from
finished; his death and resurrection was just the beginning of a Faith which
has lasted for 2,000 years and which continues to grow and embrace more and
more people throughout the world.
Christianity is not dying out as many would have us believe, yes in
Western Europe it may seem that way with societies more secular, but it is
growing dramatically on a global scale. Just think for a moment, Jesus died
amongst the Gentiles, the Roman soldiers. His faithful followers, Peter his
right hand man amongst them, had fled, even after confronted with the amazing
truth that he had risen. The ending of
Mark’s original gospel reminds us of this :
“So
they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them
and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.”
Yet the centurion, observing the suffering Christ die and
seeing how, even in the midst of his pain and suffering thought of others – his
mother and the young disciple John for example – realised that Jesus was
something special and unique and proclaimed “Surely
this man was God’s son!”
Many of us have travelled the road of Christ this
week. We waved branches and shouted
“Hosanna” last Sunday, with or without a donkey; some of us attended the Taize
services here at East Grimstead on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Team
foot-washing and re-enactment of the Last Supper on Thursday at Farley and the
Good Friday Passion and Reflections on Saturday. We have followed closely the Passion Week of
Christ and now we reach that glorious bright day when we celebrate Christ
Risen, the Conqueror of Death and Darkness, the new beginning.
For there to be a new beginning, a new covenant to use
biblical language, there has to be an ending – the old is swept away, the
curtain of the Temple which separated God from the ordinary people was torn in
two – from top to bottom – indicating a divine hand here at work. It could so easily have been torn from bottom
to top by human hands but not from top to bottom. Darkness fell across the
whole earth. This was a finishing, an accomplishing, an end so there could be a
new beginning, a new covenant – one which allowed the ordinary human to have
direct communication with God. Jesus’s
death had cleansed us. As he breathed
his last so he breathed out all our sins. We were free – not just the Jewish
people but all people, even the Roman pagan centurion.
This is what we truly celebrate at Easter. Renewal, a new beginning, freedom from all
our sins; however awful they might be – provided that we genuinely repent of
our sins, our wrongdoings, that we stick with Christ, believe in Him and
continue to follow him.
Like the disciples who fled, it can sometimes be
difficult – especially when we go through hard times ourselves – but we must
always remember that Jesus himself went through the hardest time of all – a man
of peace, a man who put others before himself, a teacher and healer, a good man
– who was despised, spit upon, falsely accused and tried, mocked and finally
judicially murdered. There is no trial, no suffering, no persecution, no lying
or falsehoods against us, no betrayal, no frustrations which Jesus did not
himself endure and overcome. He took
upon himself all our burdens. Yet he triumphed, over death, over all the
sufferings which he endured. He rose
gloriously although, as we later read, it took some convincing for some of his
most ardent followers such as doubting Thomas and the disciples on the road to
Emmaus.
We all know the gospel story so well. The good news. Paul, in our Epistle reading
ably reminds us of the true and important meaning of the Resurrection as we
ought to view it today as the modern day disciples, followers of Jesus Christ –
Paul says:
Now
I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed
to you which you in turn received in which also you stand through which also
you are being saved if you hold firmly to… [that] message”
Christ
died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried and
that he was raised on the third day and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve and then to more than 500 others at the same time.
The message of today is that Jesus was raised from the
dead, a new beginning, a new resurrected body - that he remains alive
today. There is no grave to be found,
Jesus conquered the grave and eventually returned to his father on Ascension
Day leaving behind the Holy Spirit for all generations until he returns as
promised.
We live in exciting times. We wait for his return but we do so in the
knowledge that he left a legacy of love and compassion through the Cross and
Resurrection.
Today I would like you to turn to your neighbour here in
church and say these words:
“God
loves you because through his Son Jesus Christ he gave you eternal life”
That is the greatest gift we can be given. It is a far greater gift than the biggest
Easter Egg you could imagine. Just
believe and have the faith and conviction to spread this message, the Good News,
to all you meet today and going forward. Death and darkness is finished, new
life has begun. Happy Easter!
Amen
MFB/30032018/113
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