Luke 24:1-12
The Resurrection of Jesus
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
The altar is dressed again
Resplendent in white and gold
as the resurrection message is proclaimed
He is not here
He is risen!
God could not be confined to the tomb
God returned to a world
where the “idle tales” of women
were not believed...
God returned to a world
where the boots of oppressors
still lay on the throats of the vulnerable...
God returned to a world
where insurrectionists believed
that their way of disruption and carnage
would herald a new hope...
And, in 2000 years
what has changed?
We proclaim Christ risen
in a world where the word of women is still questioned
where dictators and the deluded hold power
where bombs, bullets and knives
are the instruments of choice
to draw attention to a cause.
And the realisation that now, more than ever,
the need to proclaim
Faith, Hope and Love
to a world in darkness
is greater than it ever was.
And so we proclaim
He is risen!
The challenge now, as then,
is showing God present
in such a messed up world
The Prince of Peace
shouldering a cross.
The king of love
stooping to serve the broken
The Risen Lord
carrying the world
through the darkness of death
to a glorious new life.
He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!
Alleluia!
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