Collect and Readings for The Fourth Sunday of Easter – Genesis 7, Psalm 23, 1 Peter 2.19-end, Acts 2.42- end, John 10.1-10
The Prayer for today
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life: raise us, who trust in him, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, that we may seek those things which are above, where he reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Rocks are solid things, which makes them very strong as foundations but exceedingly painful and obstinate to kick. They do not give. This makes the rocky image given us by Peter, himself nicknamed ‘the rock’, such a splendid one for helping us visualise the utter faithfulness and solid assurance of Jesus. Being built up on such a foundation is an exciting prospect for the household of faith. And the building depends on those living stones in every generation which continue to be added to the great living temple of worship and praise. Like stones we are to be strong in our faith, a faith that is not merely existing but fully and dynamically alive. What a Church it can be, when it is firmly set on the foundation of Christ and built through his power alone with the offered lives and gifts and sufferings and struggles of millions and millions of ordinary human beings!
We have a wonderful example of just one of those living stones to inspire us today. As we watch the young man Stephen, standing gazing into heaven as stones of hatred, misunderstanding, misplaced zeal and righteous indignation are hurled at him, we can see how his faith fixes him securely, even as he is being put to death. His loving forgiveness of his enemies proclaims the reality of his faith – it stands the worst testing and still holds.
How does he do it, we may ask? Perhaps we find ourselves feeling not so much inspired as dampened by people who seem to have such great faith when we are trying to muddle along and are woefully aware of how inadequately we witness to Christ most of the time. Perhaps we feel more in common with Philip, as he tries hard to understand what Jesus is saying, but is thinking on a completely different plane, unable to put the signs and clues together and come up with a meaningful answer. It took the death and resurrection of Jesus for things to suddenly start making sense to the disciples, and that is still true for us today. Still, it is the death and resurrection of Jesus which enables everything else to make sense.
In the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection we can grasp that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is through believing in this Jesus, who gave up his life in total self-giving love for us and lived out for us in human terms the loving nature of almighty God, that we too can die to sin and be brought into a new life relationship with God which is valid both in time and eternity. So, the Way is not a code for behaviour but a relationship with a person. And that is a basic to our human experience and need as a child / parent bonding which is also present from birth, rather than the codes of behaviour which are only later acquired.
It is a living, personal relationship that Jesus offers and hopes for us to accept. The relationship will never end, but will continue getting deeper and more satisfying, and continue developing and strengthening us in our faith, throughout our entire life.
Some things to reflect on:
• Why are we sometimes more inclined to go for a code of rules than a personal relationship with the living God?
• We are told that Saul was minding the coats of those stoning Stephen to death for blasphemy. How might he have viewed what Stephen said, both at that time and after his Damascus road experience?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for The Second Sunday of Easter – Exodus 14.10-end, 15.20-21, Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1.3- 9, Acts 2.14a, 22-32, John 20.19-end
The Prayer for today
Almighty Father, you have given your only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
In these Easter readings we have a rather intriguing perspective, since we hear first from the post- Holy Spirit days and then go back to the events close to the Resurrection in the Gospel reading. It has the effect of sharpening our senses, making us more aware of the changes in this group of disciples. Peter is confident and speaks out in authority to the listening crowd. He seems to have got his act together and has obviously been reflecting deeply on the way Jesus has fulfilled the prophecies of Scripture in quite and extraordinary and largely unexpected way. He has been able to see how his Jewish heritage is wonderfully enriched and given fresh meaning, and he cannot wait to share these insights with his fellow Israelites, so that they, too, can experience the liberation of living the new life.
His enthusiasm and confidence continue in the reading from 1 Peter, where he encourages those having to endure very real and terrifying suffering for their faith. Only someone who had also suffered would be able to make such assertions with any credibility, and Peter speaks from the heart. He knows what it feels like to be scared of standing up for what you believe in; he knows what it feels like to fail miserably after good intentions, when you try to do things in your own strength. And he also knows that even the most timid of us can cope with anything when we are living the risen life in the power of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel shoots us back to a very anxious group of people, terrified of the Jewish authorities even though they are ( apart from Thomas at this stage) actually convinced that Jesus is alive. Although they know he is risen, they have not yet accessed the power of that risen life, and have at present the boldness of mashed potato.
What Jesus does is to assure them by his visible and tangible presence. There is a wonderful sense of normality in his greeting. When someone we love has died, and our life seems thrown up in the air and is falling slowly in pieces around us, what we crave is for things to be back to normal again. Jesus understands this, and provides his friends with the reassuring presence they need. Then he breathes into them, as Adam was breathed into at the creation. This breath is what gives the disciples the power of new life, and with it comes the conferring of authority, whose hidden side is responsibility. Like Jesus they are sent out, as the word ‘apostle’ proclaims, to tell the good news with confidence in the living spirit of Jesus.
Thomas was also scared. He was scared, like many of us, of being taken for a ride – of belief being only wishful fulfilment. Thomas was going to stick to honest recognition of where he stood until he had definite proof. When he is offered it, he finds he no longer needs it; the sight of Jesus is quite enough. Suddenly prophetic, Jesus acknowledges the faith of all those, including us, who do not have the benefit of visual and tactile sightings of Jesus, and yet are still able to believe in him and share his risen life.
Some things to reflect on:
• How do you think you might have felt if you had been there that evening when Jesus appeared in the room? Does Jesus appear among us today?
• Is there any way we can be sure that someone is speaking with God-given authority, rather than personal aggrandisement?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for The Third Sunday of Easter – Zephaniah 3.14-end, 15.20-21, Psalm 116.1-7, 10- end, 1 Peter 1.17-23, Acts 2.14a, 36-41, Luke 24.13-35
The Prayer for today Almighty Father, who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord: give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in righteousness and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Once again our first reading takes us into the middle of a crowd of people who are listening, devastated, to Peter, as he speaks powerfully about who Jesus is, and the terrible truth begins to dawn on them that they have all been instrumental in annihilating the Messiah, the hope of the nations. Yet Peter is not proclaiming God’s imminent judgement but his fulsome mercy and offer of forgiveness. Somehow this God of limitless love is able to take anything and transform it; we can know this for certain because in Jesus he has taken death itself – and a cursed death – and turned it into the Resurrection, with new and lasting life.
The Psalm for today celebrates that wonderful sense of release as God frees us from our chains, whatever they are; and in his letter, Peter writes of the cost of our freeing, which points to such and extraordinary love that it draws out love in us both towards God and towards one another.
We are then taken back to that period of numb misery after the crucifixion, when all hope seemed dead for ever. We are on a road, with two grieving and confused disciples of Jesus, walking away from Jerusalem towards the town of Emmaus where they lived. Why was it that Jesus drew alongside these particular people, we may wonder. Perhaps his heart went out to them as a shepherd might look at his sheep who are in pain and lost and don’t understand. Certainly Cleophas, who presumably shared this detailed account with Luke, recognises the low point their faith has reached and doesn’t try to hide that.
Jesus walks along in the same direction they are going, leading them patiently and carefully to see the hints and clues in the scriptures which point to the necessity for the Messiah to suffer and die before being glorified. When they near their home, Jesus gives them the option of taking his words thus far and no further. He never forces his company on us. But the disciples can’t bear to part from him now, and as he breaks bread they suddenly realise who he is, at which moment he no longer needs to be visible to them. They rush straight back, seven or eight miles to Jerusalem, in their utter joy and excitement.
With us, too, Jesus draws alongside and helps us understand the words of scripture. He gives us the option of walking with him no further. And whenever we invite him to stay, he comes in and shares bread with us. Whenever we meet together and break bread in Jesus’ name, Jesus is there in person among us, and very often that presence is almost tangible as we sense his love and his peace.
Some things to reflect on:
• What guidelines about evangelism can we learn from the way Jesus helps the two disciples from Emmaus?
• How can we help newcomers, visitors and desensitised habitual churchgoers in our churches to recognise Jesus in the breaking of bread?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for Easter Sunday – Jeremiah 31.1-6, Psalm 118.1-2, 14-24, Colossians 3.1-4, Acts 10.34-43, John 20.1-18, Matthew 28.1-10
The Prayer for today
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 and honour, glory and might, now and in all eternity. Amen.
Just as in the story of creation, God rests on the Sabbath, when his great, creative work is complete, so now there has been a Sabbath of rest following the completion of this great re-creative work of salvation. In Jesus’ last cry on the cross, ‘It is finished!’, there was the sense of accomplishment and completion, and now, in the dark of early morning on Sunday, the tomb is no place to stay and linger.
It is wonderfully human that all accounts of the resurrection are slightly different; just as in any lifechanging, dynamic event, people’s accounts of the details are fused with their attempts to interpret and grasp the significance of what has happened. What is clear beyond all doubt is that somehow they began to understand the extraordinary truth – that Jesus had died but was no longer dead, in the human sense of the word. He was totally alive, but not in the merely human way – like Lazarus, for instance – where it would only be a matter of time before death came again.
Jesus, having gone into death with the power of life, and with selfless love untarnished, could not be held there, but broke out into a new kind of life that was never going to end. Compared with this life, death is shadowy and powerless; it is temporary suffering and a journey of darkness which leads into unending daylight.
Peter and the other disciples can tell it from first-hand experience. They have actually seen Jesus fully alive, and have even eaten and drunk with him. Not that they were any different from the rest of us in finding it all impossible at first to imagine and believe; Jesus had been preparing them for this, but they still didn’t really expect it to happen. After all, full life like this, after that very definite and horrific death through crucifixion, is simply impossible. Isn’t it?
Like a catapult that has been stretched right back in one direction, the force of a sudden change of direction is very vigorous. Having been through the bewildered acceptance of Jesus’ death and having lived a couple of days with numbing absence, the truth shoots them into a passion for telling everyone the amazing news, once they are equipped with the Holy Spirit’s anointing. It is those who are witnesses to what God has done in their lives who tell the good news of the Gospel for real. And that is what convinces others of the truth which has power to transform their entire life, both in time and after death.
Some things to reflect on:
• Look at the different reactions of those who were at the tomb. What convinced them that the Resurrection was a real event?
• How is Jesus’ resurrection life different from before he died?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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