Scripture Readings: Acts 5:27–32 | Psalm 118 | Revelation 1:4–8 | John 20:19–31
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31). Anyone excited for the election tomorrow? I know many of us are probably sick of discussing… or worse yet, hearing other people discuss politics these days, especially since things have gotten so divisive and outright nasty in recent years. But whether or not we are excited about tomorrow’s election… and regardless of which party ends up in power this time around… the fact remains that whatever happens will have some big implications for our whole country moving forward. For better or worse, what happens tomorrow will play a part in shaping not only our own lives as Canadian citizens, but also shaping our communities, our shared values and way of life, and our nation’s relationships with the wider world. But as big as tomorrow’s election day may seem, we celebrated something far more significant last Sunday: the resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. That marvelous event of the first Easter marks the most radical turning point of all time… the incredible intervention of the Living God on behalf of His beloved but broken Creation… Christ’s great victory over the powers of sin, and death, and all the forces of spiritual darkness… by giving up His life at the cross, and rising again from the grave. That moment marks not just the end of the old ways of the world… a dramatic break with the past, but it also marks a brand new beginning… a new way of life that we who believe in this Good News are now called to take part in. After all, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just something wonderful that happened to Him. It is God’s new Creation… God’s new beginning breaking into and transforming the story of our world, and the new starting point for how you and I are to orient our lives. In short, the resurrection of Jesus challenges us all to rearrange our whole lives… our hearts, our minds, our actions, and our interactions with others around the beautiful truth that: Christ has died. Christ is risen. And Christ will come again. To become an Easter People… not just once a year, but always. And that means more that simple saying ‘yes’ to these words, and then moving on. It means spending a lifetime exploring and working through the real implications of this beautiful truth. It means seeking to better understand what it looks like for us to live as Easter People today. And while that’s not something that we can fully accomplish this morning, we can at least begin to reflect on what it means to become Easter People by turning to our Scripture readings this morning, beginning with the Gospel of John. St. John Chapter 20 gives us a wonderful account of the risen Jesus appearing suddenly to His closest disciples, who had been hiding themselves away in fear. But the risen Jesus comes to meet them in their time of fright and confusion, and shatters their old way of seeing the world… inviting them into the brand new thing that God was doing. He reveals Himself to them. He offers them His peace, along with the message and ministry of forgiveness. And then He shares the Holy Spirit with them, and commissions them to be His witnesses in the world… sharing the Good News of His resurrection with everyone. But then we find out that Thomas missed out. Alone out of the disciples, Thomas wasn’t there that first Easter to witness the risen Christ first hand. And so he refuses to believe, until he can see for himself that it really is true. He says unless he sees Christ’s hands and feet, and His pierced side… until Thomas can be assured that the same Jesus that he had faithfully followed, and knew and loved… the same Jesus that He saw die… was now alive again, as the others had said. And that’s because Thomas wanted to believe in the truth! Not just to accept a hopeful story… but reality. He wanted assurance that he wasn’t just going along with what he wanted to be true… Thomas wanted to be sure that Jesus really had been raised again. Because, if it hadn’t really happened… if it was just a good story, and nothing more… then nothing’s really changed. Then the world is still the same. And all our sins, and death, and the powers of darkness in our world are still holding us captive. And so, Thomas refuses to believe that Jesus had risen again unless he can be convinced by the same evidence that had convinced his fellow disciples. In other words, he’s not some radical skeptic… after all, everyone knew that dead people stay dead… Thomas just wanted the same life-changing experience that the others had had. And thankfully, he’s not disappointed. The risen Jesus visits His disciples again the next Sunday, and He then invites Thomas to believe… to be a witness to the Good News that, even though Jesus had died, He really is alive! That everything really has changed! That God really has dealt with our sins, once and for all. That death has been defeated, and that the dark spiritual forces at work in our world have been overthrown by the power of God’s saving love, who has raised up His Son forever. In John 20:27-29, Jesus turns specifically to Thomas, his beloved disciple and says to him: “‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’” Thomas sees and he believes, and he is given a new beginning. And Jesus says that those of us who have not yet seen, and yet believe… that means you and me… are blessed. And for St. John, this is the point: that we might come to believe… and be blessed by the new life that He has received, and offers to us. John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” Being Easter People begins by believing in the resurrection of Jesus. Even though we will still have all sorts of questions, we can choose to trust that this Good News is true. It will take a lifetime of seeking to grow in our understanding of what this all means, for us and our world, but it all begins when we, with St. Thomas and all the other Apostles, turn to Jesus and acclaim Him as our Lord and our God as well. And although this invitation to believe in Christ’s resurrection is personal, thankfully, it’s not something that we’re meant to have to try and figure out all alone. And that’s because being an Easter People is not simply about our individual faith… it’s also an invitation to belong to God’s redeemed community: the Church. And here is where we turn to our second reading today from the book of Revelation… a powerful, but often misunderstood vision offered to Christ’s people throughout the ages to help reframe how we understand all of creation and human history… past, future, and especially the present… so we can better understand how to live faithfully here and now for Jesus the Risen Lord, even when everything else seems to be falling apart all around us. And here, in the very first verses of the Revelation, we are reminded of what actually makes us an Easter People, the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord: In Revelation 1:4-6, we hear John begin the book with these words: “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” There’s a lot packed into these opening words, but I’d like to draw our attention to what John says about Jesus Christ, and also what John says about his fellow believers. Jesus is the faithful witness… the firstborn from the dead… and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Clearly, the Risen Christ, who died, rose again, and reigns at God’s right hand is centre stage. But then John shifts to the Risen Christ’s connection to His people: He loves us. He set us free from our sins by His blood. And He made us to be a kingdom… priests serving His God and Father. Now, I don’t know of any strictly personal, one person kingdoms. And the whole idea of priests in isolation from others makes no sense at all. Kingdoms and priests require a community… people bound together around a shared reality. A common location, identity, and allegiance. And our reading from Revelation reminds us that the Risen Christ is creating a new community… set free and forgiven so that we can live as Easter People, serving Him and walking in His holy ways… bound together by our belief in the One who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and true ruler of all creation. Easter People start with belief in the resurrection of Jesus, and then find that we now belong to a worldwide community that the Risen Lord has redeemed: the Church. So far so good. But as the book of Revelation, the whole of story of Holy Scripture, and the history of the Church makes clear, this new beginning as Easter People will be anything but easy. Especially when trying to live in the light of the Good News of the Risen King puts us in conflict with the claims of those who are still resisting His reign. Which leads us to our first reading from the book of Acts, where we are reminded that being an Easter People means being willing to be different… and even face suffering. The story in Acts Chapter 5 takes place in the days after the Risen Lord Jesus returns to the right hand of the Father, and sends the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Apostles are then empowered to serve as Christ’s faithful witnesses… no longer hiding in fear, but boldly sharing the Good News of the Risen Lord with all of Jerusalem. But soon enough, the people who had crucified Jesus tried to silence His followers too, and the Apostles found themselves facing some serious political pressure from those in power. Just before the passage we read, they were arrested and thrown into jail. But that night, God sends an angel to rescue the Apostles from prison… and instead of seizing the moment to run away and save themselves, the angel tells them to keep on sharing the Gospel boldly in the Temple… witnessing to Christ’s resurrection, and that’s what they do. In the morning, the religious leaders who had them arrested are shocked to find them preaching in the Temple again, and they have them brought before the council, and warned not to keep preaching about Jesus. Acts 5:29-32, “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” Rather than back down in the face of serious and powerful opposition, the Apostles stand firm in their faith, and refuse to pretend that Easter morning never happened… to act as though Jesus had not changed everything through His resurrection… even though it would mean enduring the ill will of those who wanted the world to stay the same. ________________ Our three Scripture readings today have reminded us of some pretty important aspects of being an Easter People: It begins by believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We then belong to His new redeemed community, the Church… where we are called together to begin living differently, to make choices every day based on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus… even if it means suffering. Believe. Belong. Be different. How do these speak to us today? How does our belief in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus challenge the kinds of ways that we act, and talk, and think, and treat one another… the decisions we make every day? What does it mean for you and I to belong to God’s redeemed community? Not simply to seek after our own interests, but gather with one another so that we can take part in the life of the Church… learning to love one another, to remind each other of God’s forgiveness, and mercy, and grace, and saving love, again and again. To know we are not alone, but are surrounded by sisters and brothers bound together by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How are we being called to be different today? To stand out in how we exist in our daily lives, whether in private or public? To be willing to say no to the things or the people that pull us further away from our Saviour’s side… even if it means standing up to those who misuse worldly power, and suffering for Christ’s sake? These questions are just the beginning. But as Easter People, beginnings are nothing new. Every day as Christians, we get to celebrate the Good News that in Christ Jesus the Risen Lord, the Living God has changed everything for good. That God’s new beginning has already begun. That even though many around us still place their faith in things like politics and power games, we can face the future with hope, whatever may come, because we know that Christ has died… Christ is risen… and Christ will come again. Amen.
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Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead!Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: At OneIn darkness there we stood alone
Against the breaking of the dawn We dared not hope the day would come Contented in the shadow’s gloom Our eyes were dim, our hearing gone No arms embraced, we stood alone In darkness there, our prison strong Without a hope, we stood alone Alone we stood, without recourse Singled out before Your throne No excuses, no remorse No way to hide, we stood alone But lo, what mystery? What grace? The Judge of all judged in our place!? You bore our burden, took our shame Endured alone our stain and blame You stood alone and offered up Like broken bread and poured out cup Your life upon the altar laid A priest and sacrifice in one You stood alone, but with Your blood You cleansed our crimson covered hands And brought us near, and raised us up Now peace we owe to You alone You stood alone while others fled Before the foe that held us tight No others dared to take Your side No others joined You in the fight From cradle to that cruel tree You harried hard the enemy And died with sinners at Your side Before our eyes You hung alone In darkness there You were alone Swallowed by the shadow’s gloom And with our futile, fleeting hope We buried You behind the stone In bitterness, in sorrow we At last could but concede defeat And tremble weakly in the night The day had failed. We stood alone. But in that darkest, blackest day That moment of our world’s despair The morning dawned! The shadows fled! Destruction fell on Hades’ head! The love that bound Father to Son Could not at last be overcome And we, the captives freed from hell Forevermore with You may dwell Never again to stand alone For in You now we are at one With Father, Holy Ghost, and Son Forever more we are at one Alleluia! Christ is risen! |
Rev. RObRev. Rob serves as the Priest-in-Charge at St. Luke's Gondola Point, and as the School Chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School Archives
April 2025
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