“I have seen the LORD”.

The Lenten season began with the Ash Wednesday Service, and we have passed the holy week, participated Good Friday service, and finished with Holy Saturday yesterday. Unlike Advent, which is a time of celebration and excitement looking forward to an arrival, Lent is observed in a more solemn way by preparing for and reflecting on Jesus’ sacrificial death. But at the end of Lent is Easter Sunday. Today is the most joyous celebration because our Saviour, Jesus Christ, was resurrected and lives on. Because of his death and resurrection, we are offered new life to live as covenant children in the kingdom of God forever.

On the first day of the week, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb very early in the morning. In the gospel of John, there is only one woman, Mary Magdalen. She is embarrassed to see the situation of the tomb. The massive stone gate of the tomb is rolled to the side, and the tomb is open. The disciples are urged to hear this news. But when they see an empty grave, they get embarrassed and go back home with no idea what has happened.

The gospel says, “But Mary remained alone at the tomb”. Mary is weeping there. Death is unjust too, and his body is gone. She mourns. Then the angels ask why she is crying, and Mary answers. “Someone took my Lord away. I have no idea where he is.” Finally, another person appears and asks Mary, “Why are you crying?” “They took my Lord away. If you moved him, please return him. I’ll get him.” Then the one in his white robe calls out: “Mary!” Oh, right then, Mary understands who is speaking. Listening to his voice calling her name, she realises he is Jesus, the one so sought.

Let’s say you saw someone who had died and then come back to life. That would be an incredible surprise. “Is that even possible for humans?” But Jesus’ resurrection meant more than that. Jesus lived his life as the Son of God; he walked his path and was then crucified on the cross. On the cross that showed both his own will as well as the sin of humanity, he died on the cross. His disciples all ran away and hid, or maybe went back to their job, fisherman, because they thought there was no longer any hope. Some went back to Emmaus from Jerusalem.

So, regarding the resurrection, it didn’t just mean that “someone arises from the dead” for the apostles. The apostles and disciples realised the meaning of the resurrection: God’s kingdom, which Jesus had revealed to them. They realised the new era had come in completeness, where God reigns through the resurrection. The disciples immediately knew that to be so.

If you held Jewish religious beliefs, then you would realise that the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection is to bring on the Kingdom of God! That’s what Jesus told us while he was with us! So, what they felt sure of by the resurrection was they finally had faith. Which faith? “God is sincere.”, “God is powerful.”, “God shows his love for us and this generation”. “Jesus is the Messiah.”- they had this faith. And they were changed according to the faith. And how did they change? We, too, await the resurrection of the dead we can participate in that hope. In other words, so long as they were living in power by Christ’s resurrection until the Kingdome of God finally arrived, they could be certain: “Even though I lose my life, if I can follow him in this life, God will raise me up again.”- they now had a clear hope. So they didn’t need to be afraid of anything anymore.

We’re all destined to die once, but now they could see beyond that destiny and know God, who gives us new life and new hope. With that belief and hope, what happened to them was they became able to share their love with sincerity. When you look at the early churches in the Book of Acts, they were all “together… and had everything in common”. When their faith in God was only vague, and they had no hope for the days to come, they could only think about their own lives. So, they were selfish and competitive, and they tried to preserve as much as possible and became obsessed with doing that. But now they had a new hope.

They were finally able to understand how to love. “Ah!! Now I realise that these things don’t matter anymore. Our God has power, and He is true.” Something inside their hearts, always there but hidden, now became alive and blossomed. When we learn about the early church and the first believers, of course, we can find some things than are less than inspiring, but we can also find great things and great characters.

It’s not like great people came together and became a great community, the people who witnessed the resurrection had faith and hope, and they started to show love to each other and gathered together. Before all this took place, they were no better than any one of us. They were selfish, like us, and they always put themselves and their own families first but now they’d changed into those who put their hope in His kingdom. They were no longer afraid of death. That doesn’t mean you desire death. You should avoid unnecessary death, of course. And you should also avoid unnecessary pain. But they weren’t afraid of death anymore and no longer doubted God’s steadfast love and His faithfulness.

So now, they were invincible and that faith, hope and love spread to many people. That’s why the movement of belief in Jesus spread, and the church become a community that nothing could separate. Again, it’s not like great people came together and became a great community. The communities existed because they believed in Jesus’ resurrection and lived at the point of faith, hope and love. Many said, “It’s truly astonishing, how do they come to be like that?”. It was because they were together, who had been changed by the power by the resurrection.

I pray that the power of the resurrection would be revealed in our lives as Christians. Amen.