1 Corinthians 15.19-26, Luke 24.1-12
Sourton, Bratton Clovelly, Lydford, Germansweek, Easter Sunday 2013
Whitegate, Easter 5, 28/4/2013*
Once they were a shattered people - the women who had stood at the foot of the cross and seen their loved one die.
Once they were a broken people - those disciples who had become lost souls running scared, betraying their Lord, losing their religion through fear.
But then they came to the tomb - and saw he was not there.
Then they recalled what he had said about himself - that after his crucifixion, on the third day he would rise again.
And then the truth of the resurrection hit them; that Jesus was alive, just as he had said he would be.
In those moments of realisation the power of the resurrection changed them; hearts full of amazement, heads spinning with the greatest reality-check in human history, their lives began again.
Now they were a people - they had become Resurrection People. The first of many generations.
I stand before a group of Resurrection People. For that is each one of us who have opened our hearts to the life-changing truth that Jesus, the crucified man, the resurrected Lord, loves us; that is each one of us who have opened our minds to the possibilities available to us in journeying through life with him.
Resurrection People get the point of Jesus. The point that because he has overcome the forces of evil in the world, Christ has put an end to death; the point that because he came back to life after taking all the world could throw at him, there is no death in Christ, only life - and that is our experience, those who embrace him and follow him.
Resurrection People have a zest for life: I’m thinking of the story on the front page of this week’s Okehampton Times - with its headline, ‘A charitable leap by George’:
A second world war veteran from Okehampton was among those to brave the drop in the Meldon Abseil last Sunday. George Heathman, 92, took on the 100ft abseil off Meldon Viaduct to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care... [1]
I spoke to George yesterday and know he’s unhappy that the newspaper got his age wrong - he’s only 91. But on the application form for the charity abseil he’d put his name down as ‘Twenty-plus’. Resurrection People are indefatigable.
Resurrection People never say die: I’m thinking of my friend Adrian, a vicar in rural North Wales, who last weekend opened the front door of his rectory to find that the snow outside was waist deep. He was due to host a wedding later that day. Afterwards he wrote, saying,
Yes! Alison and Michael got married! So we dug our way out of the Rectory (!) and Alison and Michael got married. A magnificent community effort - after a huge snowfall overnight and, in response to my email appeal, over 30 people of all ages turned up with snow shovels to remove the two foot of snow (and much bigger drifts) around the church and to start to clear the impassable road outside. The local farmers were all up to their necks, both in snow and lambs, so the local councillor's influence in providing a last minute snowplough received cheers, and the organist heroically managed to arrive by thumbing two lifts, one of which was on a fire engine! A heartening reminder of the love in human hearts and, as Alison said, 'there were people with shovels that I didn't even know!' [2]
Yes, Resurrection People are unstoppable!
Resurrection People stare death in the face and create life:
- I’m thinking of those who have a terminal illness but who give their time and energy to counselling and supporting others who are ill themselves - by volunteering in hospices or for groups like Force. [3]
- I’m thinking of those who have turned their losses into opportunities - those made redundant later in life who’ve picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, reassessed their potential and started a new kind of work altogether.
- I’m thinking of those who give their lives as medical missionaries or as peacemakers, healers and reconcilers in deeply conflicted parts of the world.
Resurrection People get the point of Jesus. The point that there is no death in Christ, only life. I’m thinking of St Paul who famously wrote, ‘As all die in Adam, all will be made alive in Christ’.
You and me, we are Resurrection People. These words may sometimes seem to us an idle tale, we may find it hard to believe them. But it is true.
So go back to that tomb, look for that body, let the amazing truth dawn on you, and today, this week, this year and forever, embrace the life of Jesus, live the resurrection.
Notes
[1] Okehampton Times, Wednesday 27 March 2013. George, a member of our Sourton congregation, is well-known and much-loved in the area for the zest for life he continues to display.
[2] Adrian Copping, Facebook, March 24, 2013.
[3] Force Cancer Charity, Exeter
* Bible references for this evening sermon: Daniel 6.6-23, Mark 15.46-16.8. In it I referred to Daniel (not fearing death because of his faith in God) as a precursor of the resurrected Jesus.
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