Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, alleluia! This Easter Day is different from any other that we have known. Christians in many parts of the world, indeed perhaps most of the world, cannot meet together today to celebrate the heart of our faith. But as we celebrate separately in our homes, let us still rejoice, knowing that, though we celebrate at a physical distance from one another, we remain united in our worship of the Risen Lord.
The resurrection is right at the centre of our faith. If the story of Jesus was simply the story of an inspiring man who taught us to love one another and who ended up dying a cruel and painful death, there would be no Christian faith. It is because the early disciples and Christians down the centuries believed that Jesus is risen and alive amongst us that the Christian faith has grown and spread throughout the world to many different places and cultures. As Peter realises in our reading from Acts, the Risen Christ is Lord of all, and God calls people of every nation through him. When we say 'Christ is Risen!' we are joining millions of Christians, past and present, even when this year, we do so each in our separate homes.
The good news of the resurrection is a message of hope – surely a message of hope that we need to hear in these dark times. Many people are living with extreme grief and loss, with a sense of fear and uncertainty, and with little hope for the future. Not so different perhaps from Mary Magdalene as she went to the tomb early on that first Easter morning.
Mary had watched Jesus die, overwhelmed by thirst, heat and pain; reviled and mocked by those around him. This was the man Mary and others had begun to hope was the Messiah, the one who would bring a whole new future. Now Mary must have felt those hopes brutally cut off. It was all a mistake, a failure.
Yet, Mary comes to the tomb early in the morning to dress Jesus' dead body with spices and ointment, only to discover the stone has disappeared and there is no body. So Mary stands alone by the tomb, weeping. There must have been so much pent up grief in her; a sense of numbness and meaninglessness; but also puzzlement and anger – where is his body? How dare they touch it and take it away? Is she not even allowed to show respect to his dead body? An experience which is painfully true for many today who cannot see their dead relatives or pay their last respects in a funeral service.
For Mary, it is in the midst of her hopelessness, anger and grief that the Risen Jesus draws near, asking 'Woman why are you weeping?' Mary does not recognise Jesus and, thinking that he is the gardener, asks him if he has taken the body. We might think it is strange that she does not recognise Jesus at first; perhaps she is so overwhelmed by her grief. Perhaps there is something different about Jesus. There are other resurrection accounts where the disciples fail to recognise Jesus at first. Here, it is when Jesus calls her by name, 'Mary', that she realises who Jesus is. Jesus is the good shepherd who knows each of his sheep 'by name', and he calls Mary personally, speaking deeply into her heart, into her hopes and fears.
With what joy and delight Mary must then have recognised Jesus. 'Rabbouni!', 'teacher!', she cries. Her first impulse must have been to embrace him, for Jesus next words to her are: 'Do not cling to me' or 'do not hold on to me'. Words which perhaps have a special poignancy for us this year as many of us cannot hold on to, or embrace, those closest to us.
But why does Jesus say this to Mary?
I don't think it is because his resurrected body is a spiritual body and she must not touch it. The gospels emphasise that Jesus was not a ghost, but appeared with a real body. He ate and drank with his disciples several times after his resurrection, and he encouraged Thomas to touch his body, to put his finger in his wounds. The Risen Jesus is not a warm memory, a hallucination, or a ghostly spirit. The Risen Jesus appears in the body. The gospel accounts stress that this is both the same body which was crucified (as Jesus still bears his wounds), yet it is at the same time a transformed and glorified body (because Jesus can appear through closed doors). Jesus' risen body is different in some mysterious way. The resurrection of Jesus marks something completely new; a new act of God in the world, the beginning of a whole new creation.
Perhaps when Jesus tells Mary, 'do not hold on to me' or 'do not cling to me', he is gently telling her, that yes, he is here, he is Risen, but that things are different now. She cannot simply hold on to him as he was. Mary, in her outburst of joy, may have thought that history was now reversed. Jesus was back. Things could go back to the way they were. But the resurrection does not simply reverse the crucifixion and take us back in time as if Jesus' death never happened. As one commentator points out: 'The crucifixion has happened and both Jesus' friends and his enemies have made irrevocable decisions in the course of the events round it. Judas and Peter and Pilate will not wake up and find it was all a bad dream.'
The resurrection is something new; it is not simply the erasing of something painful and a return to life as it was. Jesus is the crucified and risen one; he still bears his scars. The cross was real. Jesus' death was real. Mary cannot hold on to Jesus as he was in his earthly ministry, or simply resume their past friendship. She cannot go backwards, she needs to go forwards. Jesus wants to lead her, and the other disciples, on into a new future and a new relationship with him and with God. Jesus tells Mary that he is 'ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'
The resurrection of Jesus has changed things for ever. Jesus' death and resurrection bring us into a new intimacy with God our Father. This is a personal relationship for each one of us; as Jesus knew Mary by name, so he knows each one of us. But the new intimacy we are drawn into is also a communal intimacy. God is 'our Father' and 'our God', not just 'mine'. Mary cannot keep her experience to herself, she must go and share what she has seen and heard with her brothers.
The resurrection is bigger than just 'me and God', it is also bigger than 'us and God'. It has implications for the whole world and the whole creation. The resurrection of Jesus marks the beginnings of God making everything new; the promise of new heavens and a new earth.
In this global crisis we face at the moment, many people are looking for hope for the future. But what kind of hope is it? What will post COVID-19 look like? Do we hope that when the crisis has passed we can then return to our old life and our old ways, as individuals, communities, nationally and internationally? That might be what many people hope for. But of course, life will not be the same for many people. Some people will have tragically lost family and friends, others will have lost their livelihoods and businesses, and many will suffer in the financial hardship that will follow.
Some people have expressed hope that this crisis might pave the way for a different way of life; that as human beings we might indeed move forwards and not seek to go backwards. That we might learn to live in a more sustainable way; be more thankful for small things; show more care for the most vulnerable. Perhaps there is a challenge to us all not to cling to what we have known but to be open to new possibilities; that we might learn through this painful experience, both as individuals and as societies.
The resurrection reminds us that there is a future and a hope. Not just the hope expressed in our reading from Jeremiah, that people will again build and plant, make music and dance, but much more than that. The resurrection promises a future even when we have passed through the darkest times and places, through the pit and out the other side. For those who have died and their grieving families, the resurrection of Jesus offers the assurance of a future life in God's presence when all things are renewed. Perhaps we all need to be reminded of this resurrection hope; that because Jesus has been raised to new life, so we too will be raised to new life. But the resurrection also has implications for how we live now. We are called to 'die to sin' and to live Christ's Risen life now. To allow God to transform us, our values and attitudes, our relationships; to be signs to our world of a different way of being and living.
Yes, we hope that post COVID-19, our world may become a kinder and more compassionate place, where resources are shared more fairly. But societies will not be transformed unless people are transformed. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus we are offered a new future. To walk towards that future we need to let go of the sin that clings so closely; to let go of our own desire to hold on to God on our own terms, and instead to follow Jesus into the unknown, to let the Risen Jesus lead us into a deeper relationship with God, our Father, and with one another.
There is a future and a hope.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, alleluia!
Revd Helen Marshall