Lectionary for Easter Day

Lectionary for Easter Day

Christ is risen:  Christ is risen indeed!

Christ died for our sins, was buried and raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; and he appeared to the believers.    1 Corinthians 15:3-5

Reading. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. Easter is a very joyous season for we remember the amazing events surrounding this time. Jesus died but now he lives because of the powerful intervention of God. Paul in this passage sums up the whole “good news” that Jesus lived, died, was buried and now lives again. All these things took place just as scripture had prophesied. What is more, Jesus is not just returned in spirit form but with the physicality that allows him to be seen and talked with over a period of forty days. (Acts 1:3). As we read this passage we perhaps nod our heads and think, yes I understand these facts about Jesus. However, Paul is relating something more than just facts. In verse three Paul says “I hand on to you what I in turn had received”. For Paul these events are not mere facts but they are life changing revelations. Jesus lived: Jesus died; and now Jesus lives again. This truth had so impacted on Paul’s life that his whole outlook has changed. In one sense God has spoken and the world has changed. It is this dynamic truth that has empowered Paul to now be the person he is, and it is this empowering message that he wants to convey to his readers and listeners. Here is an event that has changed the whole course of history. To come back to life and living, after being dead and buried, was an event that was and is unprecedented. With that in mind then this passage about Jesus challenges us to ask the question; is this knowledge, are these facts, of first importance in our lives? They are of first importance and that is the message that Paul wants to deliver. To know the truth that Jesus lives is to know an empowering that brings a new energy and a new hope both for daily living and for the future.

Prayer. Lord Jesus you live and reign with God the Father and through you we are inheritors of life eternal. Receive our thanks and praise for all that you have done. Help us to live our lives always with the knowledge that you are the one to whom we give allegiance. Only you can bring us and the whole creation to its true fulfilment. Trusting in you we face each day, asking that we may be faithful witnesses to your great salvation. All praise and honour belong to you. Amen

Reading. Mark 16:1-8 “When the Sabbath was over” marks the start of a very emotional day for all the followers of Jesus. After a death there is a feeling of numbness and yet life must go on. Despite the emotion the three women venture to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus as was the usual custom. The question of who will roll the stone away from the entrance was a very natural one. It would have been a task that involved a lot of power to roll the stone over the ridge that was made to secure the tomb and protect it from animals and robbers. Finding the stone rolled back would have been a cause for consternation and would have heightened their apprehension. To then be greeted by a young man who showed them where the body should have been leaves them terrified. If we were to put ourselves into the place of these caring women it is easy to understand why they responded as they did. The theory of resurrection we can accept intellectually because we have heard the story many times, but to be confronted as they were with the physical evidence of resurrection would have been breathtaking.  It is little wonder that the message of the young man did not immediately register.

With Mark not including a sighting of the risen Lord on the visit to the tomb has often led people to wonder why. As the first gospel to be written Mark is dated between AD 60 –AD70, which is possibly as much as 30 or 40 years after the resurrection of Jesus. The early church understood that Mark wrote his gospel to record the teaching and preaching of Peter. We notice that Peter is the disciple who is named as one who needs to hear that Jesus has been raised and is to meet him and the other disciples in Galilee.

By the time Mark’s gospel was written the church had many congregations scattered across the region and so the message that Jesus had gone on ahead of them would not have detracted from the understanding that Jesus had been raised. Mark has already described the Risen Lord Jesus when he described the transfiguration at the centre of his gospel. In that description Mark has no hesitation in recognising how amazing this new and glorious man is as he talks with Moses and Elijah. It was this same glorious one whom they were to meet in Galilee in the very normal everyday experiences of daily living: And meet him the disciples did for 40 days until his ascension by which time their lives had been changed forever. It is this amazing story of lives changed through the resurrection of Jesus that Mark wants to tell.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,. 1 Peter 1:3. NRSV.

Prayer. Gracious God the power of the resurrection is so profound that we can scarcely take it in and yet we know that by your power Jesus lives and death has been conquered. Though we cannot fully understand, help us to recognise that as Jesus lives and reigns with you our lives have been touched and changed by his great forgiving grace. Help us in all that we do to keep Jesus at the very centre of our lives. May we do those things which honour him, living out each day according to his commands. May our lives be a true witness to all that Jesus has achieved. As we celebrate this Easter Season we pray that hearts and lives will be changed when the good news of Jesus is proclaimed in worship across our world. We look forward to that time when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Chris. Amen

Collect. Let us pray (that we may rejoice in the victory that is won for us): Lord of all life and power, who through the mighty resurrection of your Son overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him: grant that we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ, may reign with him in glory; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be praise, honour and thanksgiving, now and in all eternity. Amen.