We celebrate today the great event of the first Easter, Jesus rising from the dead. But do we believe it? His early followers didn’t find it easy to believe. They had been through events in which they had found themselves helpless and powerless. The disciples’ courage had left them and when Jesus had been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane they had fled.

Some of Jesus’ followers had shown up in a rather better light, but faced with the finality and awesome power of death, they could do very little. John- the only disciple we believe to have been there at the cross can only care for a sorrowing mother who is left behind.

Joseph of Arimathea can only bury a broken body. Mary Magdalene and the other women can only visit the tomb. Isn’t that about all we can do today when faced with the death of a loved one? Care for the bereaved, arrange for the funeral, and visit the grave or the garden of rest.

The terrible events of the crucifixion had obliterated from the disciples’ minds any belief in Jesus rising on the third day, even though he had said that he would. On that first Easter morning, all the followers of Jesus were at a very low ebb, they had accepted what seemed to be the inevitable. Jesus was dead, nothing more could be done.

Except of course, anoint his body in an appropriate way. This could not have been done on the day after the crucifixion because that was the Sabbath. But at the crack of dawn the next day while it was still cool and before the body could decompose three of Jesus’ most devoted followers made their way to the tomb.

Their big concern is how they will manage to roll the stone away from the mouth of the tomb to enable them to enter. To their surprise the stone has already been moved. They cautiously enter the tomb, to find, not the body of Jesus but Mark tells us a young man in a white robe that tells them Jesus is raised.

Mark tells us they fled trembling and bewildered, they were afraid. John in his gospel tells us that Mary came to the conclusion; not that Jesus had risen but that someone had stolen the body. That’s what she told Peter and John.

But shortly after that when Mary was back at the tomb weeping, something marvellous happens. She sees a figure; thinks he’s the gardener but when he speaks to her she realises that it’s Jesus. He is alive; he has risen from the dead. But even then the disciples don’t believe her when she tells them; in verse 11 Mark tells us they did not believe it.

Although John tells us that when he entered and saw the empty tomb he did believe; it seems that at that stage on the morning of Easter day he was probably the only one. Later in the day as Clopas and his friend walked home to Emmaus talking to a stranger who was travelling their way (and the details of this are in Luke 24), the fact that the tomb is empty, and that women are imagining that they have seen Jesus, only adds confusion to their grief.
Just like those early disciples, we live in an age where the idea of rising from the dead, for the average person is not easy to swallow. One objection often cited for not believing that Jesus rose from the tomb is that the disciples were the mystical type; that they only had visions of a risen Jesus that arose out of a very strong wish that he were still alive.

But the opposite is true. They were despairing men and women. They had discarded any promise of Jesus rising from the dead. What caused them to believe was not a faith that they were desperately trying to hang on to. No, they believed in the end because they were simply confronted with the facts, with the reality that Jesus had risen and was alive. Ultimately it was seeing Jesus alive for themselves, seeing is believing.

There were in fact others who perhaps had more faith in Jesus than the disciples; that was the chief priests and Jewish rulers. They couldn’t get out of their minds Jesus’ promise that he would rise. So worried were they about this that even on the Sabbath they went to Pilate and asked him for soldiers to guard Jesus’ tomb.

They wanted to do everything possible to make sure that Jesus stayed dead and buried. But they had not reckoned on the power of God. In spite of the soldiers and the seal that had been placed on the tomb Jesus rose from the dead. For two thousand years succeeding generations have believed that Jesus rose from the dead simply because it is true.

The evidence has always been there, the testimony of men and women who saw Jesus for themselves and whose lives were transformed by what they had seen and learned. Those hopelessly defeated and despairing men became bold and dynamic through their encounters with the risen Jesus.

In obedience to him their lives took on a new purpose. They had a message of hope to preach, the message repentance and forgiveness, the offer of a new covenant with God through faith and baptism. They took that message into all the world and changed the world. In the events of Easter God had broken into human history and changed things for ever.

The death and resurrection of Jesus has three profound effects.

First, it deals with alienation, the broken relationship between man and God. We know how sin and selfishness spoil not only human relationships, but they also alienate people from God. If someone lets you down or inflicts an injury on you the friendship can be spoilt; it comes between you and mars the relationship, especially if there is no acknowledgement that they have done wrong. More than that, if we are wronged in some way there are legitimate grounds for us to be angry.

There are certainly legitimate grounds for God to be angry with us human beings; there are endless examples in the scriptures and throughout history. We know that God is angry at shallow and inappropriate religion. Jesus in fact spoke of a judgement day when we will all have to appear before God.

So there are two factors in alienation, there is failure, and there is anger. In our relationship with God, there is failure because we fail to live up to God’s standard of love. God is legitimately angry with men and women because of the harm and suffering our failures cause.

In the cross, God did something about that. In his son Jesus he absorbed the righteous legitimate anger of his judgement on human sin; and he also paid the penalty for that sin. Like a loving parent who sees their eighteen year-old having got into debts they can’t repay facing eviction or prison may choose to step in and do for their son and daughter what they cannot do for themselves and pay the debt. By the cross God has done that for us. The account has been settled, the record is clean, and there is reconciliation for men and women.

The second effect of Easter is this: God shows us once and for all what he is like. God is love. On the cross, he shows the full extent of his love. In the resurrection he shows us the power of his love. Easter was the culmination of God’s revelation to us in Jesus. His love for men and women extends to the uttermost. No one needs fear that they are beyond God’s love unless they deliberately choose to be so. Easter shows us that God is love; his love overcomes all.

Then thirdly in the resurrection God gained the victory over evil. There are evil forces at work in the universe. When people turn away from God they do not find freedom and independence. They find bondage; people are enslaved to fears, to habits, to pride. It has always been so. Behind human sin is a spiritual power. Jesus confronted Satan in his earthly ministry. But in his death and resurrection he triumphed over Satan.

Easter says that ultimately good and love will triumph. But how can we know the reality of that? How can we know the reality of it in our personal situation? We can know it through faith. Like the first disciples, we do not always find it easy to believe.

We see the dark side of life, it is there all the while. But Easter reminds us again that Christ has triumphed. By his Holy Spirit he comes afresh to us. We have been reminded afresh that God’s power raised Jesus from the dead. The risen Christ is present with us. May we believe, and may we know the power of the risen Christ bringing us life and hope and victory over doubt and fear.

 

Amen.

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