The Resurrection
The Rt Revd Philip North
Easter Sunday 2023
Who shot JF Kennedy? Was there ever a King Arthur? Who was Jack the Ripper? History is full of unsolved conundrums.
It’s very easy to treat the resurrection in the same way and reduce it to a mere matter of historical speculation. Was the tomb really empty? Had the body been stolen? If so, by whom? Or was Jesus really alive again? People have been asking those questions for two millennia.
And of course they matter because the resurrection is an event. If the tomb was not empty, Jesus was a liar, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins. If the body had not risen, the whole Christian life would be a waste of time and we may as well stay in bed on Sunday mornings and watch Netflix.
But because the resurrection is an event, it is also so much more.
Traditionally Easter was the only time of the year when baptisms could take place, and still today, at Easter, the climax of the whole liturgical year for many Christians will be renewing the promises of baptism. That is because St Paul writes: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Because of our baptism, the resurrection is history plus. It is not just an event from the past. It is something we inhabit today. Jesus’ resurrection is our resurrection also. It is a contemporary, lived reality.
So if we believe in the resurrection that means we look at our lives and our world in a totally different way. Let me try to use an illustration to describe a mystery so wonderful that it defies language. I wear glasses. Without my glasses the world is an utterly confused, blurry mess. Once I put them on my nose, everything looks different and comes into focus. I can see detail, beauty, truth.
Believing in the resurrection is a bit like looking at the whole world through a wonderful lens, one that utterly changes everything and enables us to see reality.
Through the lens of the resurrection we see who we really are. Not just sinners living short and brutal lives, but human beings set free through the blood of Christ and called to share in the life of God for ever. That’s why we worship, because in the presence of God our true identity can be celebrated.
Through the lens of the resurrection we see the beauty of our fellow human beings. Not just datasets or population graphs, but precious and beautiful children of God. That’s why we strive after justice and so much hate the disfigurement of poverty and inequality.
Through the lens of the resurrection we see the preciousness of creation. Not just a resource to plunder and pollute at will, but a wonderful part of God’s plan, set free along with us by the dying and rising of Christ. That’s why we do all we can to cherish and protect the world that God made for us to steward.
And if the resurrection makes such a profound difference to our lives, it is inevitably something we want others to know about. The message of the very first Christians was an easy one. ‘He’s alive again.’ Jesus, the one who underwent that vile and ugly death, is alive again. And therefore the whole world is changed and filled with Easter joy. So let’s tell the whole world that Jesus is alive again. Yes, he came back to life two thousand years ago when a tomb was found empty. But even better, he’s alive today. And because he is alive, we are alive. Alive in a way that is richer and fuller than we could ever imagine. Alive in Christ for ever.
Because of our baptism,
the resurrection is something we inhabit today.
So let’s tell the whole world that Jesus is alive again.
Published 9 April 2023
