SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON HOLY SATURDAY

MARCH 22^nd 2008

"Christ is risen!"   "The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!"

So the message went out. First carried by the women who came to the tomb at dawn, then by Peter and John, who had come running. However, in Saint John's Gospel, Saint Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb whilst still dark. She is the first witness - and in the darkness she came.  

And in the darkness, with the Paschal candle shining brightly, we celebrate the fact that at some stage during this night Christ is risen! The ancient service of the Easter Vigil celebrates that event - for which there is no description. So it conveys the mystery through symbolism of fire and water - but primarily through light.

Light, of course, is the great theme of Saint John's Gospel - culminating in his record of Easter morning: "Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark".   In this line we have an echo of Maundy Thursday - for when Judas left the supper, Saint John records that "Night had fallen".

This is not just a comment about the time - rather a sense of enveloping darkness. The unhappy ending, to a night of light and colour. In my sermon on Maundy Thursday I suggested that when we come to the dark, we remember the joy. Tonight takes that one step further, we are not to look back to the joy, the glory, and the light - but to march through the dark into the light.

Like Israel we have marched through the red sea to the new Promised Land - which is infinitely better than the old.

Saint John hinted at all this at the very beginning of his Gospel. In describing Jesus Christ as the Word of God, he states: "That life was the light of men, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it".

Right at the beginning - at the Incarnation - the Cross and its Easter victory are set before us. For Saint John, the whole story of Jesus Christ is about light in darkness.   And here we are!

On Easter morning, Saint John says that he peered into the darkness of the tomb.   Later, so did Mary Magdalene. In the gloom she saw nothing: "They have taken away my Lord".   The resurrection is first experienced as darkness and gloom.

This is the other side to the darkness with which Maundy Thursday ends. We are not to be afraid of dark. The disciples of Jesus Christ must be ready to enter the darkness - to step into the empty tomb. For in the dark we can meet him face to face.

Christ rose from the dead "whilst it was still dark". So we are to have the courage to go into the dark places of the world's suffering, knowing that is where the risen Christ is to be found.

And we will go with one thing ringing in our ears:

"Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!"