|
Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
|
||
|
Easter Sunday |
||
|
April 8, 2007 St. John 20:1 The Resurrection It was a cold, dark morning, that first Easter Sunday. I refer not to the weather, for I know not what that might have been. I refer to the climate of the souls of those who had followed Jesus. For Jesus was dead, and with Him died their hope and their happiness. It is hard for us to imagine the despair they felt. The One they had thought would deliver them from the hand of the Romans lay dead in the grave. They had left everything to follow Him, risking their very lives to be a part of His revolution. But instead of crushing the Romans, He had died on one of their crosses, and it seemed they would never be free. Not only was their friend dead, not only were they in mourning, not only were they embarrassed for having followed Him as the Messiah, that was bad enough. But to add injury to insult, it appeared to them that the cause of Jewish freedom and peace was as dead as the cold body of Christ. It appeared as though God had forsaken them, and they would never see peace. And they were in danger. Surely even at that moment the Romans were searching the city to put them to the cross as they had their Master They dared not venture into the city streets. Hadn’t Peter been recognized by a slave girl at Christ’s trial? It was in that sense of despair that the women quietly slipped out to the cemetery to complete the task of giving Jesus a proper burial. They were not revolutionaries. They were just His mother and her friends, and they could go in safety. Their return caused even the cowering men to forget their fears. Jesus was gone. The stone was rolled away from the tomb, the soldiers were gone, and some odd looking men, or angels, had told them Jesus was risen. Impetuous Peter ran to the grave yard, even into the very tomb, and there he saw the grave clothes laying as they would be if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated out of them, or passed through them. The disciples had no idea what was going on here, and John tells us they went back to their homes. They simply quit being followers of Christ. And went back to their former lives and occupations It must have been quite embarrassing for them. Imagine Peter going back to his father after a three year absence roaming the country with an unemployed carpenter preaching that the Kingdom of God had come. He must have felt some of what Mary experienced when she told her friends and family that her child was conceived by the Holy Ghost. Now here is the really important point; if Jesus had died like any normal person, and stayed in His grave like everyone else, Christianity would have died with Him. The resurrection is not simply His return to physical life, it is the vindication of everything He said and taught and stood for during His life. It is the evidence, the crowning exhibit, that Jesus is not just a man, He is the Son of God I have said before that St. John wrote his Gospel to convince us that Jesus was the Son of God, and that he included historical facts and the testimony of witnesses to “prove” this to his readers. He did this not to justify himself for following Jesus, but because of his heartfelt belief that Jesus is the only way to life. John heard and believed Jesus’ teaching that all humanity exists in a living death. All are cut off from God, under His wrath and curse, and running with all their strength toward the pit of hell. Indeed it is only the hand of God that holds us back, and we are trying everything we can think of to get past His merciful hand, and run between His fingers. And we will succeed unless God does something. In Christ God does something. In Christ, God came to earth to warn us of our fate. In Christ, God went to the cross to pay the price for our sin. In Christ God frees us from our desire to run to hell. In Christ God gives to us eternal Heaven and peace. In Christ God gives us God. This is what St. John came to believe after three years with Jesus. John saw Him heal the sick and raise the dead. He saw Jesus die on the cross. He probably helped Joseph of Arimathaea place Christ’s body in the tomb and roll the stone into place before the entrance. And John saw the risen Christ. He walked with Him and talked with Him. And he was in Jerusalem on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came, and he was convinced in his very soul that Jesus had been right all along, and that He was indeed the Son of God, the Word become flesh, Immanuel, God with us. He was convinced that in Christ God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but hath everlasting life. Why did John believe this? Why did the other disciples believe this with such conviction that they endured horrible deaths by torture rather than renounce their faith? The resurrection is the answer. Christ arose. The Romans couldn’t destroy Him. Apostasy in the house of Israel could not dissuade Him. Even the grave could not stop Him. Christ arose! Christ arose! Alleluia, Christ arose. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
|
||
Copyright © 2006 Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church. All rights reserved For website information contact: E-mail Webmaster |
||
http://www.holytrinityanglicanorthodoxchurch.org/HolyTrinityHello.htm