Among the things I’ve spoken about in the ‘Thought’s for the Day’ I’ve been writing since our churches were closed, is how we can perhaps liken our present situation to that of the people we read about in the Scriptures. We can liken our situation to that of the people of Israel when they were in exile and could no longer worship in the Temple. And we can liken it to that of the disciples as their lives and expectations changed, so radically, during the last week of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry.
Although they didn’t know it at the time, the disciple’s lives and expectations were to change in an even more radical way on Easter Day. Jesus had been with them, every day, for three years and suddenly, he was gone, he was dead. Then, even more suddenly, he was alive again. But, even so, the immense joy the disciples must have felt when they finally realised what had happened, that what Jesus had been telling them all along had been true, didn’t mean that they didn’t still face some very difficult times and had some very difficult changes to go through.
Jesus was alive, but now he wasn’t with them all the time. And they’d only see him for forty days before he was taken from their sight for the last time. That didn’t mean Jesus was no longer with them, he’d promised he would be with them always, until the end of time, but they had to get used to having Jesus with them whilst being physically absent from them. They had to learn what it meant to be not only disciples of Jesus, but Apostles of Christ, without the physical presence of their Lord. And that, of course, is what Christians have had to do ever since.
Even so, these days are particularly difficult for us as Christians. We’ve been used to the physical presence of our fellow Christians, especially when we’ve gone to church to worship the Lord. But now, suddenly, we’re cut off from those things. Through setting aside set times for prayer, and through modern technology, we can, and are, are still coming together spiritually, but that is not the same thing as being with one another in church. So, we’re having to learn what it means to be a Church, without being physically present to one another.
We are all missing that presence, I’m sure. Everyone I’ve spoken to says they are but, what many people are saying too, is that they’re finding the things we are still able to share through technology, to be very meaningful and that what we’ve had to do in the present situation, has given them a very deep sense of appreciation for what we have when we can come together in church to worship the Lord.
And today, Easter Day, is the day above all days when we should worship the Lord. Easter Day is the greatest day in the Church’s year and for us, as Christians, the most joyous day of the year. But this will be a very strange Easter Day for us. It will be an Easter Day unlike any other any of us will have ever known. For me, this will be the first Easter Day I’ve not been in church to celebrate and give thanks for the Lord’s Resurrection since I returned to the Church in 1980. For some of you, it will be much longer than that since you were absent from church on Easter Day; some of you may not even be able to remember the last time you weren’t in church on Easter Day. So, it will be a very strange Easter Day and a difficult one in many ways. But we can perhaps learn something from today’s Gospel readings.
The lectionary gives a choice of two Gospel readings for today. One is from St John’s gospel and the other is from St Matthew’s Gospel. In St John’s Gospel we read about Mary Magdalene who, having at first mistaken the risen Lord for the gardener, recognises him when he calls her name. But Jesus tells her not to cling to him. In St Matthew’s Gospel we read that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, meet Jesus and they take hold of his feet and worship him. St John gives the impression that Mary wanted to hold on to Jesus, perhaps to embrace him, but he tells her she can’t do this.
St Matthew though, suggests that Jesus is happy to allow the Mary’s to touch his feet in worship. Later in the Gospels we read that Jesus encourages Thomas to touch him so that he might doubt no longer but believe. Thomas response, of course, is to acclaim Jesus as his Lord and his God. The Gospels suggest then, that the risen Jesus could be seen and recognised, he could be touched in worship and to elicit worship, but he couldn’t be clung to or held on to; he couldn’t be physically embraced in the way he once could.
And it’s the same for us today too. In the words of Scripture, through our liturgies, the sacraments, and in our prayers, we can glimpse enough of Jesus to recognise him as our risen Lord, our Saviour and our God and, in recognising him as that, to worship at his feet. But we can’t hold on to him and embrace him in a physical sense, we can only do that in a spiritual sense, in the power of the Holy Spirit. And, whilst it would be much better to be able to do this together in church where we could also meet the Lord in the sacraments, we can still read the Scriptures, take part in the liturgies and pray, at home.
This will be a very strange Easter Day, but wherever we are, we can still give thank for our Lord’s Resurrection and worship him with a sense of joy that comes from our faith and confidence in the great Easter Acclamation:
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
You’ll find the Propers for Easter Day here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 