The world is changed
Readings: Matthew 28. 1-10
‘The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it’. So begins the film the Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring. It starts in total darkness with that voiceover before the title card appears at the end of that sentence and the strings of the orchestra play a melody which will thread through the entire trilogy. It has stuck with me since I first watched it partly because it’s an utterly captivating way to start a film, but also because the first half resonates so deeply with our Christian faith.
The world is changed. Changed by the events we celebrate today. Since this day around 2000 years ago, nothing is as it once was, and all is now heading in a different direction. However unlike that opening monologue from the film, that goes on to despair at what has been lost, we instead come today to rejoice at what has been given. The world, the universe is changed as Jesus steps out of the tomb, and things will never be the same again.
When we left off on Friday we saw Mary Magdalene and another Mary watching as Jesus is laid in the tomb, they know where he has been laid. And we also heard the Pharisees coming to Pilate, afraid that the disciples will try to pretend that Jesus has been raised by coming and stealing the body. And so guards have been placed at the tomb and the stone set with a seal. Matthew is wanting to make something really clear, what is about to happen really happened. No-one went to the wrong tomb, where Jesus would of course be missing because you’re at the wrong place, and no-one stole the body, there are guards securing the site.
And just as a week ago Jerusalem was stirred at Jesus’ entry, and just as the earth shook a few days ago as he died, so now the Jerusalem shakes again as the stone is rolled away, Jesus has risen, victorious over death. The world has changed.
And Jesus is already gone, it’s the amazing thing noted by all four Gospels. Often you’ll see images of Jesus walking out of the tomb or stood at the entrance or something like that. But that doesn’t happen in the Gospels. Jesus has already left, he’s not waiting for people to come so he can make a dramatic exit. He’s already gone, as though he has work to do, things to attend to. And actually he’s off to see some disciples on the road to Emmaus, but we’ll get to that in a fortnight. Instead an angel appears to the women to deliver the news. The guards at the tomb fall down as though dead out of sheer terror, and perhaps the women do too because immediately the angel says to the women, although notably not to the guards ‘do not be afraid’. And he tells them what has happened, the event that has changed everything; ‘He is not here; he has risen, just as he said’.
And as they run off to tell the disciples, as the angel told them to, it reads almost as though they run straight into Jesus as they go. Suddenly Jesus is there. What a wonderful moment. John’s Gospel, as you may know, tells us more about what happened here, but Matthew, as always, is in a bit of a rush. The headline though is clear, Jesus is alive, physically living, and they are to tell the disciples so that this news can spread.
The world is changed. Can you feel it? In so many ways it seems like it always has. Good things happen, bad things happen. People are born and people die. We go to work, to the shops, to visit friends and family. In so many ways it feels like nothing has changed. But underneath it all, it’s like the base code has changed. No wonder the earth shakes.
The resurrection of Jesus means the darkness does not win. The darkness of Good Friday does not get the final say in the life of Jesus, rather his light shines out, banishing the darkness as he steps out of the tomb. The sudden night in the middle of the day on Friday is banished by the radiant dawn of Sunday for the Light of the World is risen.
The resurrection of Jesus means that death does not win, the cold of the tomb is not where Jesus remains, instead he is alive. The one who is the life has overcome even death, gone right down into it and punched a hole through the other side. The grave cannot hold him. Now the words of Isaiah are fulfilled “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” And the words of the prophet Hosea “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”. For he, the life is risen.
The resurrection is the crown, not just on the events of this week, but on his whole life. Matthew’s Gospel has all been leading here. It means that what he said is true. It means that he has truly won us forgiveness for our sins, and that we can find this forgiveness along with hope and healing in him. Death and sin and hell have done their worst, have thrown everything they can at Jesus until their arsenal is spent, and yet Jesus rises to life victorious over them all.
Which means that the ending is changed, not just for Jesus, but for the whole universe. Jesus has changed the ending not just for his own sake, but for the sake of all who put their faith in him. What awaits our universe is not darkness, or death, or destruction, it’s often how it feels, everything is getting worse. But through Jesus’ death and resurrection what awaits is renewal, recreation, new life. No longer is the world, and the whole universe headed in an ever downwards trajectory, Jesus has taken the wheel, we are headed to new life. And the same can be true for each of us. For all who put their faith and trust in Jesus, this ending is ours too. His victory becomes our victory. Our end need no longer be darkness and death, but everlasting life with Jesus. Life that is better and truer both in quantity and quality.
So for us who believe, who have put our faith and hope in Jesus, let us spend time this Easter pondering these truths so that they are no longer just knowledge in our heads, but truths buried deep in our hearts. That the God of the Universe loved us so much, loved you so much, that he came in the person of Jesus, shouldered your sin and shame, died your death, and rose again to bring you with him into everlasting life. All for your forgiveness, all to bring you back into relationship with him, all to bring you home. Let us ponder it, meditate on it, treasure it, such that when trials come, when temptations pull at us, when we find ourselves downcast and despairing, that truth may bubble up within us, the love of God who has come to bring us home no matter what it cost him.
And if you’re struggling to believe that this morning, if you’re struggling to hold onto that truth, that true and living hope he has given us, the notice what Jesus says to the women. ‘Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me’. His brothers. His first thought is for his little scattered flock of disciples. Those who had abandoned him, who had denied him, who are at that moment hiding in fear. His first thought is for them. Oh how he loves them, how he loves us, even in our weakness and failings.
JC Ryle wrote of this “There is something deeply touching in those simple words. They deserve a thousand thoughts. Weak, frail, erring as the disciples were, Jesus still calls them his ‘brothers’. He comforts them…much as they had come short of their profession, sadly as they had yielded to the fear of others, they are still his brothers. Glorious as he was in himself, a conqueror over death, hell and the grave, the Son of God is still meek and lowly of heart – he calls his disciples ‘brothers’”. He calls us the same, and let us see in those words an encouragement to trust, to not fear, that he never forgets us, nor does he cast us away because of our weaknesses, he draws near with tenderness and love.
The world is changed, can you feel it? As we celebrate Easter let us allow it’s truth to go down deep into our souls. Jesus is alive, and he lives even now. And because he lives we, all who put our faith and trust in him, also live, live his life without end. The ending is written, and it is not darkness and death, but light and life unbounded. The tomb stands open as the door to eternal life. May we, who know hardship and struggle in this life, know him as the one who will lead us through, tenderly and kindly, lead to the resurrection where all is at last made right.
Amen.