23rd March 2008EASTER DAY

Fr Julian Browning

Acts 10 : 23 – 42 ; Colossians 3 : 1 – 4 ; John 20 : 1- 18

Mary Magdalene announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord.    John 20:18. 

Do not be frightened by the stone which is rolled away because it is a door to a new life which is opening for you, a life of faith and love.

Christ is risen. Whether it's snowing outside or bright sunshine, a church is beautiful on Easter Day. It's not just that the church looks different. It is Resurrection Joy. Something's happened to us. What we feel, what we know, is the joy of finding the stone rolled back from the tomb of our own lives, because we have heard that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and that therefore we are raised from the dead too. And the reason we feel this way is because we are part of the everlasting story, we are not just spectators, something is happening to us. If we stay outside the story, hedging our bets, we shall always think that death is the end, and that's that, but when we enter the story we hear Mary Magdalene announcing breathlessly, I have seen the Lord.

The Gospels are not about magic, they are about physical things, about flesh and blood, and bread and wine, about a human body broken on a wooden cross, about the real world, your world and mine, our hopes, our fears, what we do and what is done to us. The disciples wrapped Jesus' dead body and put it in a tomb carved out of the rock. Across the entrance to that tomb they roll a huge stone. All four Gospel writers talk about that stone. No way in, no way out, except by rolling away the stone. But when Mary Magdalene gets to the tomb, she finds that the stone has already been rolled away, and, even more frightening, there is no body to anoint. And she runs away to tell the others. We would be frightened and run away too. If we are honest, we are still frightened by the scene, and we want to run away, saying that it's a trick or the body was stolen, or something like that. In fact, anything for a quiet life, just leave me out of it. But let's stop and think about it. It's the first day of the week, at the rising of the sun; it's the beginning of something new. The stone is rolled away; the power of God come into the story as sheer physical strength. The dead body is no longer there. When God comes into a story, when God comes into your life, death leads to life, death is the start of something. So with Jesus. The life of Jesus as Son of God only became clear to the world after his death. As with Jesus, so with us. When I know Resurrection joy, I understand what life really is. Our lives mean something when God has raised us from the dead, out of a half-alive loneliness, a sort of selfish twilight world, and given us His life. His life. In religion we have to beware of the modern cliché. Popular phrases like 'becoming fully alive' 'more truly yourself', perfectly good aims, have the ring of a self-help catchphrase, like those books that tell you How to be Happy, or How to Succeed. Self-help is not the Christian way. Christians believe that we can not do this on our own. We have to learn year after year that God is the only one who can roll the stone away. God rolls the stone away, and his light streams in, and we are free. God keeps his promises. We are resurrected with Christ, born again into a new life.

There's a lot of anti-religious talk today, anti all religions, explaining away religion as something out of date and artificial or just plain wrong. Well, we can now ignore that insidious debate. It's a waste of our time. We have been raised with Christ, and, as Paul told the Colossians, we are to set our minds on things that are above, the coming of God's kingdom. But why not manage without a religion, many people do? Can't we just try to be good people, and leave it at that? Sorry, no, we can't. Not now, not after what's happened. Not after Resurrection. Love now lies in wait for us in the Easter garden. Jesus approached Mary Magdalene on the first day of the week. She was weeping at her loss, she did not know who he was, and he took away her fear by addressing her by name, Mary. Why are you weeping, who are you looking for? That's how God speaks now.  He calls each of us by our names and tells us to be afraid of death no longer. It's the voice of love, and that is the only voice which catches the truth of this world. The same divine voice asks us to accept this new life. Do not be frightened by the tombs, those places of death and despair in your lives, because death has no power over you. Do not be frightened by the stone which is rolled away because it is a door to a new life which is opening for you, a life of faith and love. Do not be afraid of the light which streams in, for it will help you to see the world and your life in a new light. Do not be afraid of the Risen Lord who greets you today, for like a shepherd he will lead his Church to the end of time. God became one of us, lived a human life, suffered death for us, and rose again. Where he has gone, we shall follow, for Christ is risen, alleluia.