Psalm 143. 1-11
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness. Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. For the enemy has pursued me, crushing my life to the ground, making me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. (Selah) Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit. Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Save me, O Lord, from my enemies; I have fled to you for refuge. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path. For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life. In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.
Isaiah 26.1-9,19
On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up victory like walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace— in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock. For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height; the lofty city he lays low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul's desire. My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. If favor is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness they deal perversely and do not see the majesty of the Lord. O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.
Luke 24.1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened
After the drama and horror and glory of Holy week and Easter, we, like the disciples, can sometimes feel a little lost as to what to do now. Obviously for us, the Easter story can never be as it truly was for those involved. We can never sufficiently “suspend our disbelief” and forget the ending of the story … or as it is for us today, the end of the beginning. As much as we can lose ourselves in the solitude of the Lady Chapel here during the vigil or witness the events in the dramatised gospel or the stations of the cross. It will always be with the eyes of those looking back that we see those events. We cannot encompass how the disciples felt immediately after Jesus’s resurrection.
One moment they were stunned for their loss the next even more stunned when they discovered the truth. Clearly Peter’s immediate reaction is Joy. But where do they go after Easter Sunday?
The day after Easter Sunday is where we meet with the disciples on a more level playing field. Yes they meet with Jesus but not predictably, not as they had met him before.
According to Luke first, He meets two of them on the road when he is the LAST person they expect to meet. So much so, that they don’t recognise him. Then he first appears to the twelve when they are in hiding – and hoping not to receive visitors,
In Mark’s version he appears to the Mary and when she tells the disciples they doubt her. Jesus then appears to the eleven and rebukes them for their lack of faith. In this version of events there is a great speech and then a swift and final departure.
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Similarly, according to Matthew’s version of events, Jesus appears just the once, by arrangement to the eleven in Galilee and there gives the Great Commission
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
It’s amazing and clear cut and rather statesmanlike I suppose you could say but I rather prefer the versions of Luke and John
Jesus in Mark’s version rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith yet in Luke and in John’s gospel, when he enters the place where they are hiding “for fear of the Jews” he calms them saying “Peace be with you”
Luke tells us that they doubt he is real and so he proves it to them by eating something with them. A shared meal as was so often their custom before. Likewise it is when they stop and eat that they realise the identity of the man who had said to them:
“Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.”
To the eleven, according to John, Jesus goes on to say
"Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
The end of John’s Gospel also has another story of his appearance. I think this is one of the most intimate accounts of time with his disciples. Jesus appears when Peter has decided they should go fishing and even after all that has happened they are not certain it is Jesus. Yet they eat breakfast with him and in that familiarity they come to be certain of his identity. Again Jesus has words for his disciples. This time particularly for Peter, possibly because he needed a gentle reminder to leave the fishing business behind and get on with it:
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."
So what do these post Resurrection words have to say to us in our very much post modern post resurrection world?
Well these are not in fact the only accounts of Jesus reappearance. Paul also tells us that he appeared to James and to the five hundred as well as in a vision to himself. Paul tells us these things because he felt the need to tell the Corinthians these things in the 15th chapter of his first documented letter to them.
Even so soon after Jesus’ death and resurrection, people were questioning its veracity and it’s significance. Paul is very clear
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins”
Paul wants to emphasize the importance of Jesus death and resurrection. Without it The Way, the life Jesus intended for us, Christianity as we know it is worthless and unfounded. This is why so much stress is placed on those words of Jesus after his resurrection. These are the words that resound with us today in this season after Easter. These are the words that resound with us everyday in the knowledge of Jesus’ resurrection. These are the words which resound in our hearts and in our church leading us in THE WAY.
Where might you meet Jesus? On the road? With a friend? Going about fishing when you should be doing something else? You might meet him where he asked you to be or it might be more of a surprise. Wherever you meet Jesus remember his words:
Peace be with you
Feed my sheep
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
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