9 April 2012

Psalm 93, 98; Exod. 12:14-27; 1 Cor. 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8

The keeping of Passover in the Land was to be a teaching moment, the time when they passed on the faith, in the home, to the next generation and so it has been for thousands of years now.  The first task of preparation is to rid the home of old leaven, a time for new beginnings.  The eating of unleavened bread is to recall the haste with which the first Passover was prepared for and eaten, no time for allowing the dough to rise.  In the Land they were to recall every aspect of this first Passover and to always be prepared to give a recollection of all the Lord had done for them.  It is important to remember where we came from and what the Lord has done in delivering us.  The story of the Passover is we ate a meal while the Lord delivered us. 

The women make their way to the tomb as soon as possible on Sunday morning.  The law prohibited them doing this work on the Sabbath but they were prepared to go early in the morning to do what they could to arrest the decay of the body of the man they had loved.  It was a futile task in many ways because it is normal and natural for a body to decay to dust, but their motivation wasn’t practical it was love.  As Blaise Pascal wrote, “The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.”  Their chief concern is who will roll away the stone to allow them access to the tomb.  Perhaps two millennia before this their ancestor Jacob rolled away a stone for the woman with whom he had already fallen in love, so that she could water her flocks.  The women found the stone already moved and we can only wonder what they thought when they saw this and then met the young man who told them that Jesus was risen and would meet the disciples in Galilee.  Mark tells us the women fled and told no one.  Interesting, in Mark’s Gospel we are told time and again of those who were told to say nothing and disobeyed by telling everyone and here we have faithful women told to spread the news and they tell no one.  Telling the story is our responsibility.

Paul says the Gospel is simple, Jesus died for sins according to the Scriptures, was risen from the dead and that the resurrection was witnessed by many people, some of whom are yet living.  Finally, Paul is no less a witness or apostle than any of the eye-witnesses, his experience of an encounter with the risen Lord is no less real for the fact that it was not a bodily manifestation.  That matters because we have the same witness Paul had, a spiritual encounter that is as “real” as a bodily one.  It matters also that the resurrection was bodily, because we are not dualists with respect to our lives, our bodies and spirits are not separate entities, we are one being.  The bodily resurrection shows the power of God over all things, corporeal and incorporeal, and Jesus proved the bodily resurrection by eating and by inviting Thomas to touch the nail wounds and put his hand in Jesus’ side.  These bodies will see corruption but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter, Jesus never gave that option in His teaching on the body.  We need to know the story and tell it to others in this life, that we are being saved from death. 

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

But the pains which he endured, Alleluia!
our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
now above the sky he's King, Alleluia!
where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

Tune