Easter Sunday 20 April 2025 John 20:1-18

On Palm Sunday we were with the crowds singing Hosanna to the Son of David as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey! This Easter Sunday we are declaring something which no natural scientist or philosopher can explain: Jesus Christ rose from the dead, taking on a new resurrection body, after the most gruesome death. From the scandal of the cross, to the scandal of the resurrection. And it seems, from their accounts, that none of Jesus’ disciples expected it. Nothing that happens is how we would have ordered things. No wonder it took the disciples a while to realise what had happened. Two things I have noticed: Firstly, the resurrection happens at night. Maybe if you or I had written the script we’d have had all the world’s media present to witness it, the BBC, CNN, all the papers. And yet this is kept a secret. If we had been staying in Jerusalem that weekend we would likely have slept right through it. Indeed, God doesn’t rouse any of the disciples by sending Angels to them. He doesn’t rouse Herod, Pontius Pilate or Caiaphas the high priest. Instead, He waits for the secret to be discovered, by someone finding the tomb empty. Have you ever thought that actually the stone was rolled away to let us in, not to let Jesus out! Secondly, We are told that it was early on the first day of the week when Mary came to the tomb. The biggest surprise of all is to whom the secret is revealed first. Mary came to the tomb. Women did not have a very high standing at that time. Here is Mary, the first witness to the resurrection. I noticed three different reactions to the dramatic events. Let’s look at them in turn and notice how the reality of what happened, slowly dawned on the disciples. First of all, Mary came and she saw that the stone had been rolled away. She gathers the pieces of evidence together. The word used for saw here is like Noticing. She immediately ran back, with urgency to tell Simon Peter and the other disciple, He’s gone! Then John, determined to find out what happened, outran Peter reaching the tomb first, he saw the linen wrappings and for a moment stayed outside, when Peter got there he rushed into the tomb and first he saw the same and particularly the wrapping that had been around Jesus head, rolled up in a place by itself. This detail that he saw was important, for it told him something. The word used for saw here means to Wonder, or to think about, enquire… Then John did enter and saw and believed what Mary had told him; Jesus’ body had indeed gone. We are told that the two disciples, Simon Peter and John, returned to their homes. Maybe, disorientated by their grief, they couldn’t bear the painful thought that Jesus had gone because they didn’t yet fully understand what had happened. Mary stayed, she stood weeping outside the tomb, then looking into the tomb, she saw the two angels, more detail. She wanted to remain close to where Jesus had been. She cried out to the angels ‘they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.’ – the reality of what has happened is only slowly dawning on her. Colin Murray Parkes, a psychiatrist who did a lot of research on grief at the end of 20th century, said this: ‘The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love, it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment.’ As Mary stands weeping at the tomb we can readily recognise her grief as that price she pays for love, she is at first in shock, then she is searching, where is he?; her tears are the feelings of disorientation that she has on realising he has died and now his body has gone as well. She was waiting, wanting to care for his body and asked the one she thought to be the gardener to tell her where Jesus was. She is slowly moving towards her recognition of what has happened and who Jesus is. Then there was that incredible moment when Jesus said her name, Mary and that was when she saw. The word used here for saw, means realised. She realised that this was indeed Jesus. She cried out Rabbouni, which means teacher or Master. She identified him and in her joy tried to hold onto him. A very understandable response when you thought you had lost someone. Listening to his explanations and instructions she goes and tells the others. ‘I have seen the Lord.’ He had appeared to her in bodily form. Indeed Peter picks this up in our first reading from Acts, but God raised Jesus 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. We’re told that 500 people saw Jesus following the resurrection. Those appearances were necessary for people to believe that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, to give us life. Peter said that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. This is the clear message that we have to share, – it is that God so loved the world that he sent his Son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. For us to have this life Jesus had to overcome death. We may witness different responses as people seek for Jesus in our world today. It can help to consider our own response to Jesus too. Maybe we run to look but don’t see at first? Or maybe we go in boldly but don’t wait to see and encounter Jesus? Or will we wait, listen and seek and eventually see/realise like Mary did? Jesus calls us each by name. The challenge this Easter Day is to give Jesus time to reveal himself to us, to meet him, to know Him, because he loves us and wants that relationship with us. We may not see him in bodily form like Mary did. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to our faith. Without it, we might just as well pack up and go home. It is because of the witness and belief of those first disciples, who recounted what they saw, that we can now believe. Jesus said how much more blessed are those who believe who have not seen. It is incredible to think that from a small group of just a few disciples, there are now well over 2.4bn Christians in the world. This happens because people have read or heard this good news told to them and have believed it for themselves. They too have encountered the living Lord and shared that news with others. Let us celebrate God’s amazing love in raising Jesus from the dead. Death is defeated. It is indeed a day to rejoice!

Easter Blessings, Helen Walley