St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
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If someone were to say: "Why do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus?", what would you say? In my teacher training days, Christianity was very much the faith of the nation, however disregarded by some - and the presence of C of E colleges (which mine was not) and churches and a general sense of Christian morality was surely indicative that there was truth in the Gospel story, and much of our nation was based on that truth. Nowadays that has changed or is changing, and personal conviction is therefore more significant. I recognise that however much we gather the evidence together - and at least one lawyer in his book Who Moved the Stone? has said that the evidence of the Gospels themselves is pretty convincing and convinced him - it is all quite subjective evidence, drawn from books that were not detached histories but committed proclamations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet it isn't. The disciples were a very varied group of people and they were not all strong; in fact in the face of Jesus' arrest, they displayed weakness - understandable maybe, but weakness nonetheless. It has been said that when the going gets tough, the tough get going: in this case, when the going got tough, they went; not far away perhaps but at least out of danger. Some of them felt acute guilt, one committed suicide: all were afraid. This simply wasn't a body of people who were going to formulate a story about Jesus' resurrection and found a world changing religion on that basis; in fact they had no call to: it is clear that, by the end of Jesus' earthly life, they were completely baffled about what was going on: so much so that, when he wept and prayed in Gethsemane, they were asleep. No wonder he felt isolated and alone. They were with him and yet not with him - confused and out of touch. They didn't suddenly become a group of people determined to spirit away the body and say he was alive again: the resurrection took them completely by surprise.
And that brings us to Luke 24, our Gospel today: the disciples have heard stories that Jesus is alive; then we are told: "Jesus himself stood among them and said to them Peace be with you. They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost". Even despite the fact that some people had experienced the resurrection, the 11 disciples were unprepared for it and their reaction was messy and confused and fearful and therefore, to my mind, rather authentic and convincing. There was a lot of work to be done with these frightened people by the risen Lord: he had to show them his body with the marks of the wounds, and invite them to touch him; he had to eat with them, and then he reminded them of the scriptures, that his death and resurrection had been fulfilled; and then he said to them You are witnesses. I think that, of all the things that happen in that scene, things that put fear and shock in the past and help them to move on to a new place, these words you are witnesses are the most outstanding and resonant. It reminds me of when I take a wedding and I read the words "we have come together to witnesses the marriage of N & N "; something very important is happening and we have a role in it, to say, yes I was there and I saw it, I know it happened . I think it was those words that most brought about the change in the disciples: you are not a disparate bunch of people who messed up your lives, backed the wrong guy, and let him down at the last minute; you are witnesses of the truth that he is, and that he is risen. A random group of people became a body with a common purpose, and when the Holy Spirit came, that sense of common purpose was blessed and transformed, suffused with energy and courage and love.
Ever since, churches have gathered together people who are as random as those disciples were, and whose strengths and weaknesses are no different from theirs. In retreating from faith, our nation must rediscover its randomness, and struggle to find a common purpose; you and I hold fast to what we have received and to what we, in our own way and time, are still witnesses. The Lord is risen and he goes before us; whatever else life may bring, we tread a firm path and a sometimes narrow way that leads us into truth. We may struggle to be the Church today, but the struggle is worthwhile and Christ is in the struggle: he has blessed this church, and this community; he has identified the future and he goes before us.
Amen
