READING: MATTHEW 28:1-15

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.” Now I have told you.’

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

REFLECTION

If you want to read a good book this Christmas I can recommend ‘The Insanity of God’ by Nik Ripken.

Ripken came to a crisis is in his own personal faith.  The death of his son while living in Africa combined with the consumer Christianity that he found on his return to his native America caused him to ask many deep questions.

He had so many questions.  So he set off to learn from the persecuted church.  He went looking for a plan, a vision, and a strategy – something he could write down and pass on.  He didn’t find that at all.  What he found was in his own words was this:  ‘we found Jesus – and we found that Jesus is very much alive and well in the twenty first century.  Jesus is revealed in the lives and words and resurrection faith of believers in persecution.  Those believers don’t just live for Jesus; they live with Jesus every day.’

The book is inspiring.  There’s much to say about it.  Like the time he met some Chinese Church planters who said this:  ‘Do you know what prison is for us?  It is how we get our theological education.  Prison in China is for us like seminary is for training church leaders in your country’.  It might have something to do with why when he met some church planters some were known as the people who had seen the dead raised.

Jesus’ physical resurrection changes everything.

It was the fundamental ‘Evangelion’ – good news heart cry of the early church.  Jesus Christ over the came the grave.  He rose from the dead.  We don’t just follow a good teacher whose teaching was simply sentiment.  We follow a real person who died; He disarmed Satan plundering Hell and rose again on the third day.  That person, Jesus Chris, is right now in glory seated next to the father – praying for you and I.

It means as we embrace Jesus Christ and as we turn our hearts over to him we recognise that the same power that conquered the grave, which death could not extinguish is now part our story and our identity.

We are resurrection people.  At STC Sheffield our vision is to meet friends; meet God and live life better.  That better life, the life talked about in John 10:10 – life in abundance, life in all fullness, is the better life.  It’s the resurrection life.  It means death, destruction – the bad stuff of life does not have the final say.  God’s purposes are worked out in the heart of his true disciples – he will bring beauty from the rubble.

I wonder whether the church has lost confidence in the true resurrected Jesus.  But here we read about the risen Jesus appearing to women.  The testimony of women would not have been accepted in that culture.  They were marginalised but Jesus commissions them to spread the good news of his death and resurrection.

It seems so strange in some way to think that we’re reading a part of the Bible usually reserved for Easter day a few weeks before Christmas.

But the wonder of Advent isn’t just preparing for Christmas – it reminds us that the baby Jesus grows up and becomes the man who hangs on the cross.  The resurrected Jesus will return for his people and will make everything new.

Advent is a season of hope because of the resurrection.

PRAYER

We thank you Jesus for your resurrection.  The great act in history that changes everything.  May we know your resurrection power in our lives today.

Amen