Easter Day 9 April 2023.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
My name is Mary – Mary of Magdala;
an ordinary person.
I have a past – as have we all.
When I was healed, I followed Him –
An ordinary follower, not one of the twelve,
But content just to follow, loving Him.
An ordinary follower.
An ordinary person.
So why to Mary Magdalene
was it given to know first that He’s alive?
Why me? Rejoicing, when others, worthier, still mourned?
Because I loved Him?
Or because I cried? – who knows?
But this I do know.
I was in the garden with my tears
And then he rose from death to life, and all that died were tears.
With His living, so was born within my heart
the strength to tell that my Lord lives
and death itself is dead.
And you – what truth is on your lips?
His cross?
– a truth indeed, but lesser truth without the knowledge that He lives.
If they ask you, as they asked me
What is this nonsense?
Answer only this, if true for you, or keep your peace;
I know, for I have seen Him.
Collect for Easter Day
Acts 10: 34-43 John 20: 1-18
Alleluia! He is risen!
In those four words, our Christian faith is proclaimed. Jesus died – and came back to life. If those four words aren’t true, then our faith has no foundation, the Gospel story is mere wishful thinking.
Incarnation – God becoming Human -would have no purpose. Either God sends His Son, once for all time, that through Him we may not perish but have eternal life through His victory over sin and death – or He didn’t. If not, why bother? If Jesus lived just for the few years of His early life and then died, what He achieved wouldn’t be applicable to anyone living later – including us.
Dismissing Jesus as just a teacher of morality? It is all very well to regard Jesus’ words as a moral compass – and they are certainly that! But there are many other human teachers and philosophers who offer humanitarian guidance on the way we should live our lives, but who make no claim to divinity. Jesus said He was God. If not true, outrageous claims of a madman.
How about miracles and healings. Healing the sick, and bringing people back to life. They could easily be dismissed as made up or fanciful. Alternatively, perhaps yes, they did happen, but with a secular explanation misunderstood by people of the time.
Perhaps the worst issue is that if the resurrection accounts in the Gospels aren’t true, then there is no reason to believe every one of the other stories they contain. In fact, probably not.
The only justification for Christian belief is that Jesus did die and was raised from death. The only way that we know that the victory over death is permanently won is if we accept that the tomb is empty. The only reason for joy in the face of suffering is our confidence in Jesus’ promise that just as He is risen and alive, so we can look to eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Alleluia! He is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Previous Posts
Praying Together – 11 September 2022
Collect for Trinity 13 Almighty God, who called your Church to bear witness that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself: Help us to proclaim the good news of your love, that all who hear it may be drawn to you; through him who was lifted up on the...
Arthur and Martha: Christ the King
This is the day we remember that Jesus is the king of all the world and that He is the greatest king of all. Just imagine. Jesus is our very best friend, but He’s a king!
The Road to Emmaus | Luke 24: 13-35
The Road to Emmaus : Luke 24:13-35
Mary’s Story
Hello little one. Pleased to meet you. It’s been an eventful few months while I’ve been waiting for you to arrive. Let me tell you all about it.
It started on an ordinary day. I was going about as normal, feeding the chickens, tidying up and that sort of thing. I wasn’t really concentrating, I was thinking about my wedding to Joseph in a few weeks time.
The Journey to the Cross
The Lent readings tell a familiar story. The story of a journey. A journey to the cross.
Let’s remind ourselves of that journey. After his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days and forty very cold nights. The voices of Satan came whispering, tempting, but Jesus refuses to be distracted or tempted.