Easter Day
Hallelujah! Christ is Risen!
Collects
Almighty God, through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
you have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
Grant that, just as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires, so by your continual help may we bring them to good effect; through Jesus Christ our risen Lord who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
Mark 16: 1-8 – The empty tomb
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
‘They were afraid’. So they didn’t do what they were told. At least, at first they didn’t. Frankly, I’d be afraid too. And I certainly wouldn’t be the one who told anyone that I’d been talking to an angel, who said that Jesus – whose death they had personally witnessed – had risen from the dead. You wouldn’t blame people for thinking that Mary had lost all sense of reality.
John’s Gospel picks up the story: John 20:1-9
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But eventually, Mary couldn’t keep quiet any longer. She told Peter and John about the empty tomb. They ran to see for themselves – and the tomb was indeed empty. They didn’t yet know the prophecy that the Messiah would rise from the dead; like the women who first saw the stone rolled away, they were confused and, in their uncertainty, went home.
But Mary didn’t – and was rewarded to be the first to know the truth.
John 20: 10-18 Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means My Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
“I have seen the Lord”. It is difficult to imagine her emotions. She has seen the Lord! She doesn’t yet understand fully – but her eyes have seen Him. Her life is changed for ever, and she doesn’t care who knows it.
And what of us? Can we say the same? And if not, have we ever looked?
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His reply is clear.
“You”, He says.
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By your grace we have the gift of the Scriptures. With the help your grace, may we listen deeply to what you want to say to each one of us. May we know your gifts of endurance, encouragement and hope, so that not only our lips but also our lives may be a song in praise of your mercy.
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