St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Rev Helen gave this sermon on Easter Day 2024. Here it is for you to read again:

Alleluia Jesus is risen from the dead, he is alive he’s come back from the dead, the plot twist we have been teasing for the last few weeks. Jesus is risen from the dead, he has come back to the life, that is not something that happened before and Jesus has done it, he has risen from the dead Hallelujah! It’s so great to be able to shout that so loudly right now on this most Holy Day, Jesus is alive.

We have spent the last few weeks really immersing ourselves in the story of Jesus final weeks, his horrific death but now he’s performed a miracle, he has scourged hell and he is now alive again, he’s not a ghost or a spirit but a corporal being. We have emerged ourselves in his death so now we can emerge ourselves in his resurrection, the day of his greatest triumph. Jesus has defeated death, no one has done that before, sorry for the excitement but there is so much about this day, Jesus has fulfilled the promise he made of a new life through him. He has defeated death, we might have put him there, nailed him to that cross but he loves us so much that didn’t matter. We must never underplay this miracle even though we hear this story every year we must never forget how amazing it is, never take it for granted, tell it and hear it as if it’s the first time!

Jesus died to forgive sins, to take that burden from the people of the world who took him into their hearts. He was the greatest of the prophets, as it says in the reading from Isaiah, he has destroyed the shroud over the people (the one we still remember when we have ashes on us at the beginning of Lent) and swallowed up death. The disgrace of the people has gone because Jesus came back to life ‘This is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us…wipe the tears from their faces’, can you hear the echo of the second kingdom spoken of in the Book of Revelation here and what he brought about, a better life and a better future.

So let’s emerge ourselves into that story, we have heard the account from the gospel of Mark, the shortest account but also the earliest of the gospels before the extra bits and pieces were added to it. I would say, and I’m sure many would debate this with me, this is probably the closest we get to what happened that morning. The women go to the tomb, yes women were the first witnesses to the resurrection! Put yourself there, with all the emotion and feelings from the last few days, it’s been traumatic, life changing, scary. Jesus followers had already fled once and would still be scared of repercussions that could come their way.

They get to the tomb and they are startled, the stone has been rolled away, the tomb is open, what is happening! They look into the tomb and see that Jesus body has gone, where is it? Has someone taken it to stop it being made into a shrine to him? but then you see the man in white and marvel at his words. ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’

The suddenly it makes sense, all those cryptic things he’s been saying over the previous years. I will tear down the temple and then three days later rebuild it, when a fruit dies it beers much more fruit, the son of man will die and rise from the dead, I will be lifted up from the earth. The women ran away, they were frightened and afraid, how would you react if you were them? Put yourself in that story, be there with them and really hear the words of the angel, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’

So Jesus is alive, what do we do now? Well as it says just as he told you. We keep telling this story, telling of him and what he did. Jesus is alive and he charges his disciples to tell of him, which is what we see them doing in the reading from Acts today. Those first witnesses told the story and pass it down through the generations to come, as Jesus said himself: testify, testify, testify! We have the story from those who saw this happen and that’s what we do, Jesus is alive and he is risen from the dead and many others are going to see him over the next few weeks which we’ll hear about.

Some of the first words attributed to Jesus is Marks Gospel are these ‘the kingdom of God is near, repent and believe in the good news’, we believe and now we go out and tell of the good news, tell what he said, what he did, how he died for the sins of the world and how he rose from the dead to give a chance for a better life and existence. How do we do this, we live the way he taught, model our action by his but keep telling his story of how he died in a horrific way and how his resurrection fulfilled the promise he made of new life after this one, with all those who have gone before and Jesus as our resurrected eternal king.