Sermon Preached by Fr. Tony Noble, Easter Day 2006

Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed!

Col 3.1: "Since you have been raised with Christ, Seek the things that are above.

Thus does St. Paul exhort the Colossians to live a life that reflects the Resurrection. Ever since that is what Christians have tried to do. It is why we are here today - not just to celebrate that great event of Jesus' resurrection, but to renew our faith and to see in the resurrection not only hope for the future, but for the present and the lives we live now.

Yet there is a danger that the world will only see the resurrection as how it affects us. They see Easter not as an historical event but as a philosophical experience. And one of the great manifestations of that is the preoccupation with the so called gospel of Judas and the Da Vinci code, and generally with the so called Gnostic writings. All of these seek to discredit the truth of the gospel and the historical Christian faith - especially that Jesus died on the cross and rose to life on the third day. Thus is what we celebrate today!

Every Easter someone (usually an Episcopal bishop) will tell us that you don't have to believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus…….it was really just how the apostles felt, how they experienced him, however he appeared to them.

Let’s consign those stories to the world of fairy tale and dubious legends. Indeed when the resurrected Jesus appeared to his apostle's scripture says they thought they were seeing a ghost. The point being that he was not a ghost.

Yes, Jesus rose from the dead today. A recent survey shows that even in the pagan land of Australia 60 % of the people believe in the resurrection of Jesus!

Why then do some people, often parading as Christian theologians, have a problem with the most basic tenant of our faith? I think it is partly because they find it all so fantastic that it wouldn't be accepted by modern man. Therefore it can't possibly be true if people won't accept it in our modern scientific age. Actually it wasn't accepted by ancient man either - and it is fantastic! We have a fantastic church, a fantastic faith, a fantastic Jesus.

Also I believe some people don't accept Jesus as the son of God - the divine presence walking amongst us as a man like us. So if he is not the Son of God, of course, then his miracles and teachings need to be reinterpreted, or done away with perhaps. But if he is the Son of God there is no end to what he can do for us. The resurrection proclaimed that. There is no end to what Jesus can do for us and this world!

The professor of literature at UCSD, Professor Steven Cox, has given a real clue to what I am saying. In his recently published book "The New Testament and Literature" he says this: How you respond to Jesus depends on how who Jesus is, but also on who you are.

That is so true.

We are here to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus because of who he is - but also because of who we are.

And who are we?

Christians – yes.

People of faith – yes.

People who believe in Jesus – indeed!

People trying to follow him - trying to.

People who know that by his cross and resurrection we are saved and made free - yes indeed.

And, of course, members of the church - and therefore members of Christ's body, as St. Paul tells us so often.

In today's epistle St Paul sums it up: "We are those who have been raised with Christ." "You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God." That is, by the virtue of baptism we have died and been raised to life again. New life in Christ. In our baptism we have become members of the church, Christ’s body, his resurrected body. The only reason we can talk about ourselves being the body of Christ is because his human body was raised from the dead and now is gloriously in heaven. Leaving us to be the body of Christ on earth.

Alas the world does not see the church as Christ’s body. We have enough sins and failings for the world not to understand that. But the church does share in the sovernity of Christ, now risen from the dead. Every time we come to Mass we celebrate that reality, and renew it through the sacrament of the Altar. As we receive Holy Communion we are renewed in our faith, and in our existence as the members of his body.

Because Christ is now raised from the dead we know that what he said three days ago is true: "This is my body which will be given up for you." Through the same body given up in sacrifice on the cross the powers of evil have been overcome. The son of God is the first fruits of the new people of God. We - the new people of God - feast on him in Holy Communion, receiving his body so that we may really be his body.

St. Paul was right: we have been raised with Christ. The great African theologian St. Augustine said it in another way:" We are Easter people, and Alleluia is our song." Alleluia, Christ is risen!