His Resurrection and mine

Today's Gospel (John 20.1-9)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Today's Dulverton Sermon ("He saw and he believed")

Today is not only about what happened in a Jerusalem garden two thousand years ago. It is about what is happening here in this Dulverton chapel this morning. It is also about what will happen when I die.

I particularly like today's gospel because it tells us about the first of a long line of disciples who came to believe in the Risen Lord without actually having seen him.

John was younger than Peter and this may account for his ability to outrun him to the tomb. Nevertheless, when he got there, after glancing inside he stood back to allow Peter to enter first. Perhaps already Peter was being perceived as leader of the apostles. The gospel writer tells us what Peter saw but not how he reacted, except by silence. Whereas when John entered and saw the same scene we are specifically told about his reaction - "he saw and he believed" that the grave had been unable to hold his divine Lord who had risen from the dead. The grave clothes lay undisturbed in place, and still folded as they had been the previous evening on the Lord's dead body. He was risen. His body had not been stolen otherwise the clothes would not have remained as they were found early on the morning of the first Easter day.

We are told that John was the disciple Jesus loved. Jesus loved all the disciples so there must have been a special quality to our Lord's love of John and John's love for him. My guess is that it was the special nature of the love between them which gave John the eyes to see and the mind to understand the meaning of what he found in the empty tomb. Love can often grasp truth when the intellect alone is left groping and uncertain. None of us can understand Jesus as a living and personal friend unless we bring to him our heart's love as well as our eyes and our minds.

The Church could not have come into existence apart from this loving conviction among believers that Jesus was risen from the dead. The Acts of the Apostles is sometimes called "The Gospel of the Resurrection" because there isn't a sermon in it in which the resurrection isn't central to the preacher's message. The Church in each successive generation can only continue by the faith of new believers perceiving the reality of Jesus risen and alive at the heart of Christian experience and evangelism.

Today there are five place where we can see and believe:

1. In the Community - "where two or three are gathered I am in the midst".

2. In the Eucharist - "this is my body, this is my blood".

3. In the Word - "you are my disciples if you continue in my word".

4. In the Other - "as much as you do it to the least you do it to me".

5. In the Ministry - "he who hears you hears me".

Back in the late fifties Michael Ramsey conducted university missions at Cambridge, Oxford, and Dublin. In February 1960 the mission addresses were published as "An Introduction to the Christian Faith". His final word to the series of addresses was "The Christian lives as heir of the Resurrection. He sees the world and faces its troubles in the Resurrection perspective. Saintly men and women often show us what this means On the one hand they are not remote from the suffering of the world: they have a keener sensitivity to it. On the other hand they bring to bear upon it a sort of heavenly serenity and peace which gives strength to others and sweetness to bitter places. This blending of sensitivity and serenity is the mark of the saint; he lives out the meaning of the Resurrection".

Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.