Reflection on the Resurrection

April 12, 2020

Cochran Street United Church

Poem by Iona Community:

It was on the Sunday

That he pulled the corn

They arrived with flowers,

Shuffling through the dawn

As the dawn snuffed out

The last candles of the night

Their faces betrayed their belief

That yesterday would always be better

Than tomorrow

Despite what he said.

He would not say it again,

So why bother to believe him on that score?

And the flowers,

They too were silent witnesses to disbelief.

Like the grass,

They were cut to be dried to death,

Cut off from the root

The bulb, the source of life.

He was the flower they cherished,

The flower now perished

Whose fate the lilies of the field,

Now tight in hand would re-enact

So when they passed the crouched figure

at the edge of the road

They thought little of him,

Scarcely seeing his form through their tears.

Had they looked even a little,

They would have seen a man

Letting a grain fall through his fingers,

Dropping to the earth

To die and yet to rise again

It was on the Sunday

That he pulled the corn.

This poem does nice work of sharing the emotions of the women as they walked to the tomb that morning. Feelings of pain, sadness, confusion all muddled together with disbelief. What had just happened, their teacher, friend and messiah, lie in the grave. It was not supposed to be, he had told them of a different way. He told them of stories like, if a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it will bear much fruit. All that was forgotten in that moment of great sadness and despair.

As the women approached the tomb that morning a great earthquake shook the earth and rolled the stone away, and an angel of the Lord came down. This rendered the roman guards unconscious. When the angel of the Lord spoke he told them, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised." The women were invited to go and see the place where he lay and then instructed to go quickly to tell the other disciples that Jesus had been raised and they were to go to Galilee where they would see him.

The tomb was not the end of the story, in many ways, it is the beginning of a story. Death had not had the final word the tomb is empty and the instructions have been given to go and tell the others and meet the risen Lord. The instructions to go and tell reminded the women and us that we cannot stay in this moment of resurrection, that our work is not in the empty tomb our work is in the world with the risen Christ.

In Matthew's Gospel, as in the other Gospels, the resurrection seems to finds us, even when we are not seeking it. The resurrection found the women as they were walking to tell the disciples what they had seen. Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Jesus met the women, he found them and allowed them to worship him as they took in the reality of what was happening.

Both the angel and the risen Christ reminded the women to not be afraid. How could they not be afraid, they had not experienced this before. First Jesus is dead and now he is alive to say nothing of the angel at the tomb.

This Easter is very different one for all of us. We are asked not to celebrate with our family and close friends, due to the coronavirus. We stay in where it is safe and only venture out when we have to. Our Easter dinners where we would've been together laughing sharing stories in person, we need to imagine in a different way.

This year more than ever let us hear the words of the angel and the risen Christ, “do not be afraid”. The risen Christ finds us we do not have to search for him. That is our hope, that is our promise. We as people of faith know that hope in the risen Christ can brighten even the darkest of nights even though we are practising physical distancing and staying home except for essentials, the resurrection has happened and has found us. In less than ideal circumstances, Christ has risen.

The final piece in the story of the resurrection in Matthew's Gospel is that because of his death we are even closer to the Christ among us. In the gospel reading, the angel tells the women to tell the disciples what happened. When Jesus instructs the women to go and tell, he refers to the disciples as brothers. After the resurrection, there was more of a sense of family amongst them. Because of Jesus' life, death and resurrection we are all siblings in Christ. The risen Christ brings people together in a spirit of love and generosity, even if we can't physically be together this year.

Today we have gathered to celebrate the risen Lord. We are free to go and live in the resurrection promises of new life, hope, joy and love. We are an Easter people and our ministry is done in the light of the resurrection. We know that this is just the beginning of the story. Death does not have the final word, Jesus is risen! Now that deserves a Hallelujah! Praise be to God! Amen.

Worship Wednesdays for April 15th

Rev. Heather Sandford's Easter Reflection