Easter Day

Colossians 3.1-4; John 20.1-18

'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.' So writes St. John about 'the disciple whom Jesus loved', which we understand may be St. John himself. Whoever it is that at first hesitated at the entrance to the tomb before going in, shows us quite graphically what taking that step of faith and embarking upon the Christian life entails. And he shows us what it means to live the Christian life in it's entirety as well.

Becoming a Christian, or making that decision at some point in your life to commit to the Christian way of life is an awesome decision. Not least because you are committing yourself to following not so much a set of rules or an ethical or moral code, but to following a person, the man, Jesus Christ. That's what the disciples we read about, both the men and the women did. They answered the call of Jesus - 'follow me'. He didn't say, 'do what I tell you and make sure you stick to it'. He said 'follow me'. And then He went on to describe to His disciples and others what that means. And it probably means something like this.

At first you are hesitant. Like John at the entrance to the tomb. Answering the call of Jesus Christ can be very threatening. You don't know what you are letting yourself in for. But you don't get anywhere hanging around outside. The only way you'll satisfy your curiosity is to go in; to take that step. And it's a step into the dark. Or into the light, depending upon how you perceive it for yourself. It's certainly a step into the unknown.

And then when you've taken that step you very often encounter so much that's incomprehensible. Christians subscribe to all sorts of fantastic ideas and concepts, some of which seem quite impossible and incredible, like Jesus dying and then rising from the dead. Christians seem to subscibe to a way of life that it's impossible to live out and they aren't very good at it, most of them. But again, St. John shows us the way here in this gospel reading. It says that 'he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand'. If you are going to be a Christian you have to believe first. And it's only when you believe that you begin to understand. You understand slowly, or in fits and starts, over a life time and even then you haven't finished understanding. Always there's something that challenges reason. And that's because it's a mystery you are believing in and a mystery that you are trying to understand. The mystery is God and God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, and His Spirit, giving you life.

I get more amused these days than angry when atheists tell us that Christianity is rubbish. How do they know? It's like saying my car is rubbish and never getting in and driving it. It's just like that, so simple. It's so simple they don't see it. And you don't have to be an atheist. Just plain ignorance does it all the time. All those people who say religion is rubbish, Christianity is rubbish, Church is rubbish. How do they know? Oh yes, of course, lots of them have been to church, for an hour or two in a life time. And they think they know enough about it to make an informed opinion, and opinion that makes them disbelieve. And so, their disbelief denies them the life of such great riches. If they find out anything, they find out that the Christian way is difficult, it's really hard. There is no soft option.

And that's because when Jesus says 'follow me' he wants you to follow him to his death and yours. And by that I don't just mean your physical death. I mean the death of your ego, the death of your own will. Because just as Jesus follows His Father's will, He's calling us to do the same. And remember in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus found that so difficult, because it meant for Him, facing the cross and accepting the inevitable. And if we follow Jesus Christ, we find that we too have to face our cross, we have to carry it and then nail our own self, our own will to it. That's what Jesus meant when He said we have to carry our own cross. And giving up your self, giving up your own will is personal to you and different from everybody else. Now do you see why people turn away? Now can you see why they rubbish our faith? Because it means if they follow it they'll have to die.

And the only thing that carries us through this is the Spirit of God walking with us and empowering us to do it, being there with us in the highs and in the lows. And the Spirit is there because it's the Spirit that's given to us in our baptism, specially for this whole Christian life. Without the Spirit of God we can't do it, without the Sprit of God we can't follow Christ. Because it's as we walk through this life, carrying our cross and believing, it's only then do we begin, do we begin to get a glimmer at first of understanding. It's as we really carry our cross and crucify our own will in favour of God's will like Jesus did, that the dawn begins to break on our understanding of what Jesus resurrection means. Just like it dawned upon the disciples slowly that Jesus was in fact risen, bodily from the grave, and what it meant for them at its deepest. It meant that death in the end didn't win; that Jesus, by dying himself, had overcome it, He had trampled it down. So St. Paul, later on could say 'Oh death, where is your sting? Where, O grave, is your victory?' And then the understanding becomes clearer because you realise that only God could do that. Having created the body, only He could free it from death and raise it again.

And the most wonderful thing is that God, through Jesus Christ, did it for us. Out of His love for us, gave His life for us so that we too might not die but have with Him again that relationship given to Adam and Eve at their creation and before they grasped at being gods themselves.

And this is Good News. This is the Gospel. And it's Good News we celebrate today, the Day of Days and it's Good News that we will dedicate a child to today in her baptism and that those of us already baptised and whether we are far along the road of following Jesus Christ or have newly taken up the journey, we'll rededicate ourselves today.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!