RonBlog

Sunday 24th April, 2011 EASTER DAY

Sentence
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it Psalm 118:24

Collect
Glorious Lord of life, by the mighty resurrection of Your Son You overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in Him; grant that we who celebrate with joy Christ’s rising from the dead, may be raised from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, through Him Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

First Lesson Acts 10: 34 – 43

Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Psalm 118: 1 – 2 & 14 – 24

O give thanks to the Lord for He is good: His mercy endures for ever
Let Israel now proclaim: that His mercy endures for ever

The Lord is my strength and my song: and has become my salvation
The sounds of joy and deliverance: are in the tents of the righteous
The right hand of the Lord does mighty things: the right hand of the Lord raises up
I shall not die but live: and proclaim the works of the Lord
The Lord has disciplined me hard: but He has not given me over to death
Open to me the gates of righteousness: and I will enter and give thanks to the Lord
This is the gate of the Lord: the righteous shall enter it
I will praise You for You have answered me: and have become my salvation
The stone that the builders rejected: has become the head of the corner
This is the Lord’s doing: and it is marvellous in our eyes
This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it

Epistle Colossians 3: 1 – 4

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

GOSPEL Matthew 28: 1 – 10

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."
So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved

NOTES ON THE READINGS

First Lesson
I remain surprised at the number of times in the course of a year, this passage is set down as the First Lesson for the day. Mind you, it marks quite a development – oddly enough dare I say – in the Infant Church as it began to grow and spread.
As mentioned before many times, it has to be said that when anyone moves from what they had considered a strong position – either in the Faith or in any other human philosophy, - there is always a lot of baggage held that tends to keep that person static. Occasionally, such baggage is not even recognized as being a point of view held firmly.
For Jewish people of that generation, and before and long afterwards, it was a statement that went without saying that Israel constituted the Chosen People of God, and (in spite of history and Biblical pressure otherwise) that God had neither interest nor concern for anyone outside that Covenant. Even ‘hayseeds’ like the fishermen disciples were held in thrall by that particular theology.
This passage is part of that fascinating story of Peter’s vision of the great cloth from heaven with all the animals and the Divine command ‘Rise, Peter, kill and eat,’ and the Apostle’s refusal even to step outside the old-established kosher laws. How should a dyed-in-the-wool person cope with what he understood to be God telling him to break the code. And then came this encounter with the Roman centurion, who not only stood outside the Covenant but was part of the hated invasion force to boot.
Do not misjudge the extent to which that event must have met Peter at a very deep level in himself, and must have provoked an enormous range of issues to be dealt with. So when, after this event Peter prevaricated on occasion, stepping back from whatever progress he had made, do not be surprised. It is a lonely path when one is convinced that progress must be made, but others refuse to be convinced and dig in their heels.

Psalm
On the other hand, the person who sees beyond where all others stand can have a ‘vision glorious’ of where it all points. This psalm has a verse or two that should be very well know to most Christians; however take the time to ponder the other aspects that seem to excite the author. Also note how very positive this psalmist really is.

Epistle
Having grown up in an atmosphere where passages such as this were received with passion and fervour – in a spiritual sense, and otherworldly, please see beyond that. Notice how almost all of the New Testament points all followers to live as disciples of Christ and not as disciples of ‘Adam.’
The Gospel points us all to living radically differently to ‘normal’ human aspirations of self-centred and self–focussed living; to follow Christ is to live for others, giving not getting. Loving not hating. And that is not the easiest thing in the world to do!

GOSPEL
From time to time there have been commentators on this passage (and others) who have been alert to the fact that the evidence of those women would not have received rave reviews as the news spread. It was then a cultural fact that the evidence of women was not to be regarded as correct by any means: which must have made it hugely difficult for the ladies to cope with then.
All that, in spite of the fact that the only people prepared to do what was necessary for the mortal remains of Jesus were the ever-practical ladies. So one is not surprised to find, even in Matthew’s account that it was to the women that the news was first given.
Whilst this passage seems to read that the earthquake occurred at the time they were at the sepulchre, one suspects that both that and the guards’ retreat occurred some time before.
Whatever those realities, this passage celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus, both an earth-shattering and history-changing event that still resonates throughout the world.




NOTES ON A SERMON

Perhaps I have been too long in the bush, but I learnt very early that Outback people are not into soppy, sentimental or ephemeral ‘Christianity.’ They require something far more virile, tangible, sensible, solid. So I offer a track followed over previous years, designed for those who find any concept of resurrection rather difficult to cope with. It has ever been a concern of mine that there are rather too many sermons which require people to make huge leaps of ‘faith’ – which tends to mean, not faith at all, but sticking out one’s necks. On occasion that may be necessary, like launching out into the deep, but there still needs to be some sort of evidence to justify such a move.

It all sounds so incredible in a way that out of death comes life. Whilst this sort of thing has often been the subject of myth and fantasy across all manner of human cultures and civilisations, it seems to remain beyond our grasp. However, I am about to ask you to take a wander on the wider side, to see if it is all as outlandish as it seems.

This concept is not all that removed from common or garden human experience at all when one stops to think. In fact my very life stems from people who lived and died before me. Like day follows night, the seasons follow their same life and death patterns, so does even the food that you and I need and eat. Farmers have lived on the very basis that ‘except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone.’ Having spent the greater number of years of my ministry in rural areas, even planting wheat myself, I know the validity of that expression. Drought years notwithstanding, the principle applies. In fact for those who – these days – like to posit a random universe, one has to say that the evidence points otherwise, does it not?

So when you go to bed tonight, you can rest assured that the sun will rise, and the tides continue to move according to remarkably predictable patterns. And it has to be said, as medical and other sciences develop and evolve, increasing numbers of previously fatal diseases can be cured, if not just held in check.

What is this Resurrection Story really conveying, if only for the cynical among us? The answer is rather encouraging. In the story of the arrest, trial, conviction and execution of Jesus, it is not simply that the life of that Person was destroyed, if for a short time. The real issues behind the story run rather deeper even than that; let me explain.
In Biblical terms, it is said that Jesus defeated evil. Now that meets a certain cynicism does it not? What it really means, is that Jesus – in His life, death and resurrection showed evil up for what it is, enabling the rest of us to recognize the reality and to avoid the same traps. It does not mean the end of evil, but it does mean a foreshortening. And part of the great encouragement of this story is the assurance that, whilst evil may prevail to some degree, its darkness has been made more visible.
And the same can be said about truth. Had you lived in Old Testament times – or even in some places today – you would never have expected truth to emerge over falsehood; or love over hate; and yet that is exactly what the Resurrection of Jesus promises.
Should you require some other ‘hard’ evidence of the reality of such claims, all you need to do is to look, where we have looked before, at what you might call real life. Even real history. For instance, those living through the Nazi regime may well have considered themselves utterly powerless against the blackest of evil displayed there. The reality is that the Thousand Year Reich lasted about a dozen. My father who lived through the Communist Revolution in Russia assumed that that grip of steel was so irresistible that it would go on for ever. However, like the Exile in Babylon, its grip loosened after 70 years. Sadly that occurred just a year or two after my father’s passing – that was a resurrection he had considered quite impossible.

In other words, life is absolutely full of resurrections, and you need only look around to see them. One of the most exciting ones, from where I sit, is when someone’s life is changed at great depth by conversion or by some other means. That is life out of death if ever I saw it, and it has been my experience to encounter that quite a few times.

Resurrection. Take hold of the significance of this event and value it. And then stop and realise that we have not yet looked at anything to do with life after this!