Date: 4^th April 2010 (Easter)

Preacher: Nikki Devitt

Churches: Draycott & Rodney Stoke

Readings and psalm:

Acts 10, 34-43

1 Corinthians 15, 19-26

Luke 24, 1-12

Joanna’s story

I suppose it all started when we met Jesus, and became his followers.

We all hung on his teaching, and wondered at his gift for healing, men and women alike.

And then some of our number grew convinced that there was something more to Jesus than being just another prophet and healer.

Some said that Jesus was God’s Messiah, who had come to save Israel.

Of course the trouble was, that other people had noticed Jesus too, and not everyone liked what they saw.

The Pharisees, and the Temple authorities… I think they felt threatened by the way Jesus seemed to bypass their rituals and laws, and to suggest that God ‘s kingdom was for everyone, regardless.

They were always trying to catch Jesus out…

And they were bad enough, but then the trouble really started when the governing authorities, the Romans, began to hound him too.

Things came to a head at Passover time that year. We’d all travelled up to Jerusalem for the feast,

Jesus was teaching in and around the Temple, and pulling the crowds.

But I remember it was pretty edgy and uncomfortable right from the beginning of that week,

the religious authorities were obviously out to get Jesus,

and instead of keeping a low profile he kept speaking out,

(and to us he kept making obscure comments about watching out, because the time was near.

We thought perhaps the time had come for the revolt against the Romans, and that Israel would be free again, but we couldn’t quite see how that would happen, Jesus wasn’t exactly amassing an army around him.)

And then one of the days Jesus got so angry, he threw the traders out of the temple, saying they’d made it into a robbers’ den instead of a house of prayer.

Well, you could feel the tension building after that, it was like storm clouds gathering..

It was just after the Passover feast itself as we all headed for the Mount of Olives, that things really turned nasty. Suddenly Jesus was surrounded by the temple guard, and they arrested him and led him away. It was chilling…

Simon-Peter followed at a distance but everyone else, myself included, took fright and fled.

We didn’t know what was happening, but the next day they took Jesus to be tried before Pilate, and Pilate handed him over to be crucified, like a common criminal.

We couldn’t believe it.

Myself and some of the other women followed, at a safe distance, as they forced Jesus to carry a cross, outside the city walls, to be crucified. And we watched, helplessly, from afar, as they put him to death.

We couldn’t believe he had met such a sudden and violent end, and such a shameful one. We were mad with grief, not just for the loss of this good man who was our friend, and leader,

but I think we were mourning too for our dashed hopes of being delivered from the Romans.

Well, there was, at least, a little comfort to be had from performing the proper burial rites for Jesus. Of course it was the eve of the Sabbath by then, so we couldn’t visit the grave until the day after…but we watched carefully when they took Jesus’ body from the cross, so we could see where they laid him.

They gave his body to a man called Joseph, he had a brand new tomb where no–one else was laid, so at least we knew we’d easily find the body when we came the day after the Sabbath.

That Sabbath was the longest day imaginable, we swung between disbelief and weeping and panic…after all we were Jesus’ followers, perhaps they’d arrest us too.

None of us slept well, and we women were up at dawn the next day

to go to the grave and anoint the body.

. On the way we were wondering if there would be anyone around at that hour to help us move the stone at the entrance of the tomb,

but when we got there, we saw the stone had already been rolled away. We were scared of who may have got there before us, and went in very gingerly. …

We gasped at the sight that met our eyes…the light was dazzling, but we couldn’t see the body anywhere

and we saw two men there, no-one we knew, their clothes seemed to shine,

we covered our faces and cowered away…

and one of the men said

Why are you looking for someone alive, among the dead?

He isn’t here, he’s risen.

And then they reminded us that Jesus had said

he would killed by wicked men, and would be raised on the third day.

(and it was true, Jesus had kept saying something of the kind, but we hadn’t known what he meant….and we still didn’t! He often spoke in riddles).

Well we went back and told the eleven, and the others, what we’d seen, but you could tell they didn’t believe us.

Some of them went to the tomb to see for themselves but no-one knew what to make of it. …

We were just feeling bereft at our loss, and guilty because we’d abandoned Jesus, and dismayed because it had all come to nothing,

and most of all, we were utterly bewildered about what on earth was going on.

----

But then, little by little, unexpected things began to happen, that started to persuade us that Jesus had… passed through death, and been taken into God,

and was alive, …in the power of God.

The Lord appeared…to Simon-Peter, of all people, although he had forsaken him so badly that night when Jesus was arrested.

and then he appeared to other disciples, even to some who were leaving Jerusalem and going in the wrong direction.

Jesus didn’t once reprimand any us for having abandoned him in his hour of need,

he wished us shalom, peace,

and came with forgiveness

he showed us his wounds, they were still there, it really was Jesus, just as we had last seen him .

And I suppose gradually we understood that the same Jesus

who had lived with us in Galilee,

and whose whole life had proclaimed God’s love and mercy,

hadn’t been extinguished by death. His love and forgiveness were stronger than the forces that had killed him.

And the real shock

was realising that he wanted US to show others that love and forgiveness.

We who had all let him down, betrayed his trust in us, just days before,

We were forgiven, and entrusted to go out

and show the world that Jesus and his influence aren’t confined just to Galilee, or Jerusalem any more.

He’s wherever God is,…and that’s everywhere.

And it’s we who have to tell the world.