Sermons

Easter Day
Sunday 12 April 2009

David Paton-Williams
Readings: Acts 10 v34-43, Mark 16 v1-8

FEAR AT EASTER

"They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid."

What a strange way to end a gospel reading for Easter Day!

Mind you nearly all good stories have a bit of fear in them. Walt Disney knew that and always spiced up his films with a scary bit.
For me the thing that gave me nightmares was Cruella De Ville in the original "101 Dalmations."

And there has been quite a big dose of fear in the story of holy week.

In the Garden of Gethsemane - we are told that Jesus fought with his fear of being crucified and that he sweated so much it was like great drops of blood falling to the ground.

And then his closest followers ran for their lives when the soldiers arrested Jesus.

That same fear gripped Peter's heart in the courtyard of the High priest when Jesus was on trial and when people began to recognise him as one of Jesus' disciples he was so scared that three times he denied even knowing Jesus.

And on Easter Day we are told that the disciples gathered together in a house with doors firmly locked, because they were scared stiff that the soldiers would come for them as well. And all this fear reminds us that within a few days of Jesus' death, his followers were boldly proclaiming their faith in Christ.

The small fearful band of followers was transformed overnight into a confident and growing movement of faith. And if you asked them what had happened to change them, they only had one answer: Christ is risen!

The women's fear in mark's story is different though - it isn't the fear of death - it is the fear of God it is awe and wonder.

There is a famous story from the film "The greatest story ever told". Jesus has died on the cross and at his feet looking up at him is the Roman Centurion played by none other than John Wayne. He delivers his one line "Truly this man was the Son of God". "That was great, John, great" said the director, "Could we try it one more time - this time with awe."
"Aw, truly this man …"

Awe - it's the sort of fear that makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, because you know you are in the presence of something very extraordinary and very strange.

And something truly awe-inspiring had happened that morning God was at work. God was there. And those women had walked right into the middle of it and they were - not surprisingly - terrified.

So it's not strange that there should be fear on Easter Day.

What is strange is that in the earliest manuscripts this is the end of Mark's gospel. No passing on of the good news, no appearances of the Risen Christ, no accounts of forgiveness and new life flooding into the hearts of his followers.

Just terrified women running away.

The early Church thought it was strange too, so they tacked on two different endings to mark - endings that are clearly not by him.

So was the original ending lost? Or did something happen to prevent Mark from finishing it? Or was this just how Mark wanted it to be?

At the end of a film or TV programme sometimes up on the screen you see the words "to be continued". And Mark's Gospel needs those words as well: "to be continued".

How did Mark expect the story to be continued? Perhaps there's a clue in the words of the young man sitting in the tomb.

"He is going ahead of you. There you will see him."

Maybe the Gospel has no ending because the story of Jesus isn't finished. It is still being written in the lives of those who follow him - because he is going ahead of us.

Jesus is not stuck in the past, locked behind a stone tomb, trapped under 2000 years of history and tradition. He is risen, he is free, and he is going ahead of us.

His story continues today.

Jesus goes ahead of us into the future so we are called to find new ways to tell the gospel and live the gospel in a changing world.

He is risen. He is free.

"They cut me down but I leap up high.
I am the life that will never, never die.
I'll live in you, if you'll live in me.
I am the Lord of the dance said he."

The Lord of the dance dances off ahead of us
into the future and invites us to follow.

So that means that the future will be one in which Christ will be there.

When we are young the future is a place of excitement, of progress or new experiences.

When we grow older the future can easily become a place of fear. Fear of illness and death. Fear for the planet and future generations. Fear, in a time of recession, for our jobs and homes.

But into these fears comes a voice. A voice that echoes down the years. A voice that comes from a place of absolute disaster,
but which says: "Do not be alarmed. He is risen. He is going ahead of you. And you will see him there.

Whatever the future holds - joys and sorrows, life or death, success or disaster - Christ is in it. It is his future and so, at the end of the day "All shall be well".

So how does the story of Jesus end? It doesn't. How does it continue? That depends on us as we follow Christ into the future.

When is an ending not an ending? When it is a beginning.

There is an ancient legend of Pilate's wife standing by the cross on Good Friday. She turns to the centurion and says
"Do you think Jesus is dead?"
"No lady I don't" is the reply.
"Then where is he?" she asks.
"Let loose in all the world, Lady, where no man can stop the victory of his risen life."
Let loose in all the world.

He is going ahead of you.

May the story of the Risen Christ continue to be written in your life. Amen.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay