Easter Sunday/The Resurrection of our Lord ---- 1 April 2018

Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.

·       Mark’s Gospel concludes with the passage we’ve read today. Our Bibles contain further verses, but no one is sure where they came from. To play it safe, the church keeps it to the rather abrupt ending of Mark’s Gospel as it was found in the oldest texts.

·       In his writing, Mark seems to take pains to note that the three women came to the tomb on the first day of the week. This is not simply a calendar reference, giving the date and time of their actions; it places what they did in a very special light.

·       In the book of Genesis, creation begins on the first day of the week. It might be better to say that the beginning of creation defines the day of the week. In any event, when God begins to create light and darkness are separated and there is the first day. The first day of the week is the beginning of creation.

·       The Gospels say that Jesus’ resurrection took place on the first day of the week and this is not simply a pointing out of the day, but a linking of the resurrection to the act of creation. Resurrection means a new creation and new life. The crucifixion took place on Friday and Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried before sundown, the beginning of the Sabbath. (Even the Creator rested on the Sabbath, Genesis tells us.) It’s often been noted that Jesus sacrifice is tied to the Passover as well. That being the case, the entire event – the crucifixion and resurrection are tied to the creation and to the freedom celebrated in the Passover.

·       In both of these references from the Hebrew Bible, God acts powerfully, decisively… and mysteriously. What is done in creation, at the Passover, and in the days of the event we call Easter is beyond our understanding and leaves us in awe in the middle of such a tremendous mystery.

·       The young man dressed white that the women saw in the tomb told them you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. He also says they are to tell the other disciples and Peter that Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee. Mark wrote that the women fled and that they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

·       We don’t seem to have the whole story here. They must have told someone since Mark wrote all this down.

·       There’s more of the story that we don’t have. If this is the start of the new creation, then the old order is starting to pass away. The struggle we know is real, for the old and the new – within us and outside of us – struggle for control and domination… and all of us know this struggle.

·       Just as God brought order from chaos in the story of creation, just as death could not hold Jesus in its grip and in the tomb, the new creation cannot be stopped. It will be for us, around us, and within us. We are caught up in it and we are part of it. As disciples, we are to tell of this in words and in actions.

·       Just as the phrase, on the first day of the week holds more meaning than first meets the eye, so our Easter greeting carries more than it appears.

·       Christ is risen… and we are free.

·       Christ is risen… and death is defeated.

·       Christ is risen… and the world is new.

·       Christ is risen… and so shall we.

·       Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!