Two weeks ago Mike and I went on holiday to southern Spain. The weather forecast for the UK while we were away was that cold north winds from the Artic would sweep across the country, that there could even be frost and snow. So throughout the week before we left I was hoping that Spain would be a real contrast; that the Mediterranean sun would shine all day, and that it would be really warm. It didn’t, and it wasn’t! The Artic wind reached even to southern Spain. Without central heating it felt really cold, and on the last 2 days it rained. So my hope and expectation for warm weather was completely disappointed. I realised that my hope was based on false expectations; it was an uncertain hope, driven in some measure by self-centredness. Although our holiday wasn’t all bad news. They were some unexpected things that were really good.
What has this story got to do with today’s great celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, the greatest time in our Christian year? I am hoping that in the next few minutes we are going to see that in today’s gospel reading from Luke, the hope that the followers of Jesus had built up was completely and utterly devastated, and then completely reborn into something huge, something wonderful, and completely unimaginable.
Luke is writing his gospel about 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He has had time to think about what happened, to look back, to understand. As he writes he is absolutely convinced that Jesus is alive, that he was raised from the dead that Sunday many years before. How does he get this across in the passage we read?
For a few minutes let us try to imagine what it was like to be one of Jesus’ followers, or disciples, when he was killed. Already for 3 years we have been walking and talking with Jesus. We have eaten with him, lived with him. We have listened to his stories, to his teaching.
We know we haven’t understood everything he has said and done, but we have learned to expect some big things of him. We have come to hope that he will deliver us from being in bondage to the Roman Empire that rules our land. This will give us relief from the heavy taxes we have to pay, from its ever-present army of occupation that is ready to interfere in our lives. We have heard about the new kingdom, God’s kingdom that Jesus says he is bringing, a new age of justice, love, goodness, freedom, where people like us are accepted and given a hearing. He has given us real hope of great changes in our nation. He tells us he has been sent by God to bring his promises to fruition - those promises he gave us centuries ago.
And then - he was killed. He seemed to give himself up to our Jewish leaders, to the Roman authorities. Right to the end we expected him to turn the tables, to bring victory from the jaws of death, but he didn’t. We were devastated. The last 3 years had come to nothing. All our hopes were smashed to pieces. We were completely confused. And also very scared.
The same Jewish leaders who arrested Jesus could come and arrest us who were with him. So, since his death, we’ve been confused, hopeless and feeling helpless. For 2 dark days and 2 even longer nights, we have been in hiding. We haven’t even been able to visit Jesus’ grave because it’s our holy day, a Sabbath day of rest.
Now, let’s to back to our gospel reading. In the verses just before this passage, Luke tells his readers about some women who had journeyed with Jesus all the way from Galilee to Jerusalem. They had come to know him well. They witnessed his death on the cross. They followed the men who took Jesus’ body down from the cross and carried it to a nearby garden. They watched as Jesus’ body was placed in a small tomb carved out of a rock face. They had seen the men heave the great stone over the tomb’s entrance. They heard it rumble and thud into its place. By then it was sunset, so these women had no time to carry out their custom of anointing the body of Jesus. The Sabbath day of rest began at sunset, so they had to leave.
After the Saturday Sabbath, they got up early Sunday morning to go to the tomb and anoint Jesus’ body: their last act of service to the one they had grown to love. They arrived at the tomb just as dawn was breaking. An amazing, an unexpected thing had happened – the great stone was rolled right back. They could walk through the doorway into the tomb. And then another strange surprise. Jesus’ body was not there, it had vanished. And suddenly, right beside them in the tiny tomb, there were 2 angels. The women were scared stiff. The angels gave them a message: Jesus is not in this place of the dead, he is risen. He did tell you about this before it all happened. And Luke adds – the women remembered. They recognised it as truth – Jesus had told them he would be killed and would rise again. But until this present moment they had no means of knowing what he meant by this. Now they were experiencing it. They were beginning to understand.
Immediately the women went to see the other disciples of Jesus. They told them what they had seen, or rather what they had not seen. They told them the strange message: Jesus is risen. But the other disciples didn’t take them seriously. They also expected Jesus’ death to be final. They thought the women were telling tall stories. They also hadn’t understood Jesus’ message over the months before his death, and they didn’t accept the women’s message now. It was completely unexpected and unbelievable. They had no experience to back it up.
So they all stayed in hiding. Except one man; the impetuous Peter. He ran to the tomb, found it empty, and was amazed. Luke doesn’t tell us what Peter thought. He must have been puzzled. This must have opened his mind to wonder what really had happened. And Luke spends the rest of his gospel telling the wonderful stories of Jesus’ resurrection appearances to those who followed him. Again he walked with them, ate with them, talked with them, gave them understanding that all that had happened really did fulfil god’s promises. He showed them hope again.
A newer, bigger hope. Hope based on God’s plan, not man’s reasoning and misunderstanding. Hope in which they were invited to take part, to work with God.
As they understood more, this hope became absolute certainty, that Jesus whom they had been with, whom they had seen killed, was now alive and with them again. This certain hope was founded on an unexpected event that they never dreamt could happen. And their message, he is risen, spread right across the Roman Empire. It changed people, and it changed the whole known world.
For 2000 years this message that Jesus was raised from the dead, that he is alive, that he lives within us has brought millions of people who follow him sure and certain hope. What is this resurrection hope for us today? [And for you who are going to be baptised in a few minutes, what does this hope mean for you? What is the certain hope that God is planting in you as we welcome you to the family of Jesus?]
It is that God’s absolute, self-giving love, demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus, will do away with all evil, all that is dark, all sickness, all hurt and ill will, all fear, anxiety, anything that is wrong. Our gospel hope is that this love of God will go on drawing us to be with him, with the risen Lord Jesus, for ever. That on the other side of death is life, God’s life with us, our life with God.
And the resurrection life we have in Jesus is among us now. As we are gathered together, we embody, we demonstrate, we are the resurrection life of Jesus. We are the signpost towards the certain hope that God, who still so loves the world, wants everyone to know. In contrast to my shifting-sand hope of good weather in Spain, this is God-founded, Jesus-demonstrated, Holy Spirit-secured hope.
What does this hope mean for you, for me, in our everyday lives, day by day, week by week? What will it mean in 10 years time, through dark times and dark places? What will it mean as we approach the end of our lives on earth? It means that deep inside us, whether we feel it or not, we are drawn into this great river of resurrection life, the river that will carry us into eternity, to be with God, to be with Jesus for ever.
And at times we see glimpses of this resurrection hope. Moments when we know God’s presence, or recognise his help. Maybe we experience a moment of joy, receive a new clarity of understanding, know an unexpected gift of harmony with another person, see a sudden glimmer of light in a dark place. These are God-given moments, when we are reminded that he is with us, that he cares for us. Moments when he assures us that hope in him will never fade, will never be disappointed, because this hope depends solely on him and his steadfast love for every one of us.
May God open the eyes of our hearts that we may know more deeply the hope he gives to each one of us. Amen
© Jenny Sheldon
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