Encountering the risen Christ

Sermon preached at St Catherine’s, Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull at 11am Eucharist.
Easter Sunday, 12th April 2009.
A shortened version of the sermon was preached at that 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull

Readings: [Acts 10: 34-43] 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11 Mark 16: 1-8



Biblical scholars seem to be convinced that the words we have just heard from Mark’s gospels are the last words in the gospel that can be properly attributed to Mark. Most present day bibles include two additional endings to Mark’s gospel, but apparently, for stylistic reasons, scholars seen sure that these come from a different source. The scholars debate whether Mark’s original ending has been lost, or was never written or whether it was really Mark’s intention to end the gospel with the passage that we heard today.
If we do take what we heard today to be the end of the gospel then it is a very strange end in deed. Although the young man dressed in a white robe tells the women that Jesus has been raised, there is no record of anyone actually seeing the risen Christ. Also the joy of the resurrection has not filtered through at all. We are told that women fled from the tomb because terror and amazement had seized them and they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.
If these are to be thought of as the last words of Mark’s gospel, then they are in complete contrast to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15. First of all Paul does not talk about “terror and amazement” but rather he confidently describes the Christ’s death and resurrection as good news.
There is a secondly contrast because the women in Mark’s resurrection account said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid, but what Paul writes is completely focused on the proclamation of the gospel. He talks about the way the gospel was proclaimed to him, and the way that he and others have proclaimed it to the Corinthians.
A third contrast, and this it seems to me is crucial, is that in the words we heard from Mark today, nobody actually sees the risen Lord. In Paul’s account he produces a list of people who saw the risen Lord, including a crowd of 500 people, and himself, who by some miracle on the road to Damascus, saw the risen Lord in heaven.
So what is it that changes the fear, amazement and silence of the women we read about in Mark’s account into the confident and joyful proclamation of the good news that we read about from Paul?
Well in part it is the passage of time. The resurrection of Christ was a very big and surprising event, and it takes time for it to sink in, and for us to realise all the wonderful implications it has. But it seems to me than it this passage of time the thing that makes the big, big difference was encounters with the risen Christ.
Let’s think about the resurrection accounts in John’s gospel. In John’s gospel we read of Mary Magdalene going to the tomb, and the story is fairly similar to Mark’s version, with the stone rolled away, and the body gone and the angel. But in John’s gospel, while Mary is weeping he sees Jesus, who she initially thought was the gardener. Seeing Jesus made all the difference.
Or we might think of the disciples in John’s account who gather together, very much afraid and behind locked doors. But when Jesus appears in the midst of them we are told that the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Or we might think of Thomas who was absent on that occasion, but who was completed turned around when he later encountered the living Christ.
It is encountering the risen Christ which turns the resurrection for being about a rather bewildering and frightening empty tomb into a piece of joyful news which people want to proclaim to others.
And in many ways this is still true for us today. It is the encounter with Christ which turns our faith from something rather strange and uncomfortable into to something wonderful that we want to express and share. So how can we encounter the risen Lord. Well, since the ascension, we have not been able to meet Jesus in his physical body on earth, but there are still places where we can meet him.
First of all we can meet him in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist he gives us himself, his life, his very body and blood, and certainly we can meet him here.
Secondly we can meet him in his word proclaimed. We think of Jesus as the Word of God and when the scriptures are read Jesus the word is present to us.
But thirdly, and importantly for a gathered Christian community like this one, Jesus is present when we meet in his name. “Where two or more gather in my name there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18: 20) Jesus said. So when we meet as a Christian community we have the possibility of having Jesus present in our midst. To do this we must meet in Jesus’ name, which means in the essence of Jesus. This means meeting in mutual love, and in obedience to God’s will, but when we meet like this, Jesus is present. When Jesus is present in this way we feel our hearts burn within us, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
So as we gather let’s try to gather in the name of Jesus. Let’s gather in mutual love and in accordance with God’s will and if we do this Jesus will be present in our midst. We will have the encounter with the risen Christ, the encounter that makes all the difference! Amen.