I love Eastertide. Its one of the few seasons in an Anglo-catholic parish where you can get away with a good old fashioned call and response. Are you ready to respond?
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! I love that.
All of our readings this morning focus on witnessing and testifying to the resurrection of Jesus. In the Gospel when the risen Lord appeared to his disciples he informed them that they were witnesses of this good news which was to be preached to all people, and this is exactly what Saint Peter and Saint John are doing a while later in the Acts of the Apostles. Likewise, Saint John’s begins his first letter by reiterating his testimony about the risen Lord Jesus:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
I am struck by is the freshness and the newness of this apostolic witness. The apostles were sent to proclaim this news to people who had never heard it before. Just as it was shock and a surprise to them that Jesus rose from the dead, news of that resurrection must have been a surprise to the people they told. Had they ever even heard of Jesus? Had they ever encountered anyone seriously convinced that he had risen from the dead? It must have been very exciting.
Its not the same thing, but that type of excitement reminds me of how I felt about six months ago. My wife and I are expecting our second child any day now. My guess is that if you see her today, you will know that she is pregnant. Its pretty obvious, so I don’t need to announce it. But six months ago, when I first announced it nobody knew, nobody had any idea, it wasn’t obvious and it was such a thrill telling people about something that they hadn’t heard and hadn’t seen yet that meant so much to both of us. Now, anybody can see that we are expecting a child. I don’t need to say anything at all.
I’d like to ask you all a question: do you think that the resurrection of Jesus and the good news of the Gospel is obvious to everyone? Do you think everyone knows who Jesus is?
When I was a little boy, I thought everyone knew about Jesus. I thought that the good news of Christ was as obvious to everyone as a pregnancy is by the ninth month. As a child, I was able to go to church, worship God, and enjoy the fact that there wasn’t much work to be done spreading the good news of Jesus: everyone I knew already knew who Jesus was.
There are times in history in specific places where that was probably true for almost everyone. In Europe 500 years ago, I believe that most everyone probably did know who Jesus was. Most people probably had encountered many Christians of deep faith and conviction.
But I’m not so sure that we live in a world where that is true anymore. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, in fact, I think it puts all of us into a position that is similar to the position the first disciples and apostles were in. Nobody knows what we know. For that reason, I think it’s a very exciting time to be a Christian. There are so many people who have not yet heard the good news that each one of us knows.
There are many ways to spread that news, I don’t think the method is particularly important. I do believe that every person has a natural inclination to want to share what they know with those who are in the dark. We want others to know what we know, don’t we? I can tell you how difficult it was for the first three months of my wife’s pregnancy to keep the news a secret. I wanted to let everyone know, but the time just wasn’t right. Now is the time to tell someone about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now is the time to testify to what we have seen with out eyes and heard with our ears concerning the Word of Life. Now is the time to shout out what you know.
Are you ready?
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
May the Holy Spirit assist us to speak with such joy and conviction to those who people we know who have not yet heard that good news. Amen.
