The gospel of Easter morning begins with Mary of Magdala. We saw her standing under the Cross of the Lord on Good Friday, and we saw her last night at the Vigil, in Mark’s account, as she ran from the empty tomb in a stupefied silence, in shocked neglect of the command of the young man in the white robe to go and tell the disciples that Jesus is risen. She runs, breathless we may take it, to Simon Peter, and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, who was there at the Cross too – and she gasps and blurts out ‘they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have put him’.
This morning’s gospel is full of this running, full of rush. Full of rush, because no sooner do Peter and John hear Mary of Magdala’s news, than they both set off in response to run back the way she has come.
The other disciple, possibly younger and fitter, at any rate a faster runner, arrives first. Peter, perhaps somewhat middle aged and we may imagine more portly, draws up. He is surely out of breath from the exertion but he has built up a momentum. The other disciple waits outside peeking in, but Peter, true to form, storms right in. Only then, does the other disciple follow.
Then at last amid all this panicky rushing and running to and fro, last night and this morning, then at last with the two disciples coming to a breathless stop in the tomb, there opens up a moment, or maybe rather it is an age, of silence and stillness. The scene freezes. It is written that this other disciple sees and he believes.
He sees and he believes. What does he see? Well, all this beloved disciple sees with his physical eye of sight, is just folded grave clothes. But still what he sees is more, he sees more with an inner eye of insight; he sees that the one who loves him, who loves him dearly, is that love which is stronger than death; thislove is risen from the dead and is alive for ever more, with a new and eternal power of life and love. So of course he sees and he believes; and because we too may be the disciples that Jesus loves, we too may see and may believe.
If we enter into and stay further with this moment of stillness in the tomb, after all the rush, the moment in which the disciple sees and believes then the puzzling reflections are not just what is seen, but also a faint memory of a tune that is heard, that once heard sticks in the mind and we cannot get it out of our head. It is what St Augustine referred to so often as ‘the new song’, the song of the new creation, the 8th day song which is today, the Easter Alleluia.
I want to thank you for all listening to me so patiently over these days. Particularly as I am sure the points I have been mentioning you have heard many times before – it is the job of the preacher to be faithful not original. However I hope to give you finally something that I suspect you have not heard in a Easter homily before – call it if you like the joke in an Easter cracker, if there is such a thing, or maybe given today’s date an April Fools’ Day gag, only of course I am obviously getting it wrong by letting the cat out of the bag in advance. So here goes.
There is a pop ballad of the 1970s called ‘The Last Farewell’ written by Roger Whittaker and famously sung by Elvis Presley and it has the refrain ‘You are beautiful and I have loved you dearly, more dearly than the spoken word can tell’.
Now as in all good songs and stories it is very hard indeed to work out what it is all about; it seems that someone is about to embark on a sea voyage maybe from a south sea island, a land of endless sunshine to return to old cold England to the rain and the wind and the singer is wistfully and painfully bidding farewell to someone, maybe a lover, maybe a love child, maybe it is the place itself and the singer is pledging a strong love, a love that will remain and endure.
Elvis of course, it is an entertainment to note, is known by some as the King, as the King of rock and roll. Many fans also believe that he is still alive despite his death and there have been reported sightings.
It is Jesus, however, who is the true King, king in the truest sense of all. He is the man truly raised up after his death, we saw and touched him, we ate and drank with him and behold he is alive for evermore, longing to share with us his love and his eternal life.
Now, someone has been singing a song to you this Triduum, faint though it may be and hard to hear, harder maybe to believe; it is maybe a faint sound from far away, a half forgotten memory. It is not Elvis that sings it to you, still less me. It is the new song sung by Christ the King, risen from the dead and alive with the transformed life of Easter, the new heaven and the new earth, the 8th day which is today, he is the lamb who longs for you his holy bride.
It is Christ who sings this to you, yes you, you who he loves more than he can ever say: ‘You are beautiful’ – as beautiful as a bride – ‘and I have loved you dearly’ – you, the disciple I love with a love at once more personal, and more individual, yet also more universal, than you can begin to imagine. It is only because of this love stronger than death that you enter into the tomb into its eternal stillness and peace, that you see and you believe.
BIDDING PRAYERS FOR EASTER DAY
1 APRIL 2018
Celebrant: Let us pray in faith and in hope and in great joy on this Easter Day for all the people of God who seek to live the new life of the Resurrection
Reader: May we with John, the disciple Jesus loved, enter today into the empty tomb of the Lord, and may we also, in the silence of that holy place, see and believe.
Christ, our life
Let us pray for those who do not and cannot see the Risen Christ and who do not know the power of his love in their lives, that their eyes and their hearts may be opened to believe in him who is today revealed as their Lord and their God
Christ, our life
Let us pray today, in thanksgiving, for the joyful witness of the children, young people and students who have run with us on the path to the joy of the resurrection, that he may keep them safe on his way and show them the path he wills them to take
Christ, our life
Let us also pray with thanksgiving for the Arcadian singers and for all those who have worked so hard on this Easter retreat of ours.
Christ, our life
Let us pray for peace in the world and for a fair and just resolution of the conflicts that divide peoples and which cause such suffering, particularly for the innocent and which rob many in the world of hope.
Christ, our life
May Mary, mystic rose and gate of heaven, pray for us and for all people, that always assisted by her prayers, we may come in joy to the glory of the resurrection.
Hail Mary
In silence let us bring our own intentions to God
Celebrant: God our Father, you sent your Son to save us and to unite us in one body through his death and resurrection. May we know your truth, run to you in hope and live today and always in your love through Christ our Lord.
