Easter reflections from the Revd Sue McCoan 

Bible reading: Luke 24:1-12

Reflection Part 1

The sun is coming up; warmth is creeping back into the world. In the emptiness of the tomb, two men in white speak words of life. He is not here; he is risen. 

In all the gospels, it is the women who find the empty tomb. These are the people who on Friday stayed to the bitter end, witnessing the full horror of the day, witnessing the exact location of the tomb. These are the people who have gone this morning to serve, to anoint the body, to perform one last act of grace and love to the person they have lost. These are the people who first hear the words that this is not the end. 

Long before there is any comfort or consolation, there is the choice, to keep going, to do what is needed, to offer the gifts they have. And in so doing, they are the first to know signs of hope. 

Jesus always said this would happen. Whatever is going on, the women know that God is at work. 

Reflection Part 2

The day unfolds. The sun is fully up; warmth is creeping back into the earth. The women have been told that Jesus is risen but they have no real idea what this means. They report it to the eleven disciples, who find their story hard to believe. So much so, that Peter goes himself to check on the tomb. Sure enough, it is empty, just as the women said. But still their story makes no sense. 

The afternoon wears on, and nobody has yet had any sighting of Jesus, any more confirmation that he really is risen again. This is a day of mystery, a day when you can’t be sure what’s happening or what to do for the best. So the followers of Jesus opt for safety.

Peter returns to the other ten, in the upper room, where they lock themselves in for the night. The women presumably go back to their lodgings. And elsewhere in the city, other people who have heard the women’s story decide that Jerusalem is no place to be in this unsettling time and set off back to their nearby village and the safety of their home. Let’s hear their story in our next bible reading.

Bible reading: Luke 24:13-31 

Reflection part 3

The mystery continues as these two make their way home. These are people who know Jesus well; they know everything that has happened to him. But they don’t recognise him in the stranger who joins them. They don’t recognise him when he talks about the scriptures. It’s only when they invite him in to eat with them, and he breaks bread with them, that they see who he is. In this simple act of hospitality and friendship, they recognise their risen Lord.

We see the same kind of intimacy in all the resurrection appearances. Jesus only ever appears to the people he knows well, those closest to him. Sometimes he ate with them, but he only ever stayed for a short while. And all the appearances happen within a limited period of time, the 40 days between Easter and the Ascension. 

These are very precious moments, moments of grace. The tomb could not hold Jesus – the rock-solid, sealed tomb; the grave-cloths could not bind him. But the love for his dearest friends brought him back to their physical presence, costly though it may have been for him. It was a way of saying, of showing them: I am still with you. I still love you.

It made all the difference. The Emmaus 2, who had trudged the 7 miles home weighed down with grief, ran back those 7 miles to Jerusalem to tell the others. The 11, huddled in fear, got themselves organised, elected a replacement for Judas and met regularly, with the women and others – so that they were all there, ready and waiting, when the Day of Pentecost came and the Spirit fired up what became the worldwide Christian church.

The resurrection of Jesus has a cosmic significance. We began our service thinking of the dawn of creation. The self-emptying love that made space for God to create the world is the same love as the self-giving love of God sharing our humanity in Jesus, all the way to the cross – and out of this emptying and giving, the same love is the self-fulfilling love that creates the new life of resurrection.

But for all this cosmic wonder, the risen Jesus was first known to the disciples, and is known to this day, when two or three gather together, and break bread, and remember. 

Amen.