6 minute read
He is Risen
David Clarke offers an Easter reflection, reminding us that not only has Jesus risen, but he goes before us in all we do and his promises are true.
“D on’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you’” (Mark 16:6-7).
Dr Billy Graham once recounted how an Austrian village was miraculously delivered from the army of Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1813, Napoleon had invaded Austria, and advanced within six miles of the village of Feldkirch. The Austrian army was some miles away and it seemed as if the village would be occupied without resistance. But as Napoleon’s army advanced by night, the Christians of Feldkirch gathered in their little church to pray for the safety of their village. It was Easter Eve.
Next morning at sunrise, the bells of the village church pealed out across the countryside, to hail Christ’s resurrection. Napoleon’s officers, who worshipped Robespierre’s Supreme Being, if they worshipped at all, did not realise it was Easter Day. The ringing bells led them to believe the Austrian army had come to occupy the village. In their mistaken belief, they ordered a retreat, and the village was saved.
Easter bells ring out a unanimous message – one shared by every Christian grouping of whatever stripe – the message that Christ is risen. It is a message that puts our fears to flight.
A great man once wrote, “The gospels do not explain the resurrection; the resurrection explains the gospels.” Consider the two clauses: ‘the gospels do not explain the resurrection’. The gospel writers produced no timeline of what happened that Easter morning, or how the heavy stone was rolled away, or what physiological changes took place in Jesus’ body. They boldly proclaimed that Jesus was risen, and called men and women to repent and believe.
The second clause is equally important: ‘the resurrection explains the gospels’. Apart from the resurrection, the disciples would have skulked back shamefaced to Galilee. They would have had their memories, but they would have had no message to proclaim. Apart from the resurrection, Jesus of Nazareth would have been only dimly known, another would-be Jewish Messiah, forgotten like all the rest. Apart from the resurrection there would have been no church, no written gospel record, no worldwide mission telling of a Saviour who had conquered sin and death and the grave.
Mark’s gospel tells how devoted women, on their errand of love and mercy that Easter morn, find the stone gone, the tomb empty, and a young man in a white robe sitting inside. Naturally, they are alarmed, but he tells them, “Don’t be alarmed”. The word in the Greek is rare and strong, and could be translated as ‘shuddering awe’. And to this awestruck pair he gives glorious news, striking three exultant notes:
He is risen
Each word is significant. ‘He’ – Jesus himself, not some fond memory or some mystic spirit. ‘Is’ – in the present, not in some distant day of general resurrection. ‘Risen’ – with all the word implies of power and victory. And to substantiate the young man’s message, he says, “See the place where they put him” (v6).
That confident declaration disposes of a raft of theories to explain the empty tomb. The idea that the women were mistaken, or that the body had been stolen by friends or foes are all waved aside.
In a way we cannot understand or explain, the body of Jesus had been moved. The New English Bible rightly renders the passive mood of the verb: “He has been raised”. Resurrection was God’s act, his seal of approval on the obedient life and sacrificial death of Jesus. At different stages of Jesus’ ministry, God’s approval was demonstrated. The resurrection is God’s final seal on all Christ did for the sins of the world. He goes before us “He is going to Galilee ahead of you” (v7). Hebrews 6:20 describes Jesus as ‘our forerunner’, our pioneer. The idea is of the reconnaissance corps of an army; the advance party that goes ahead to ensure that it is safe for the rest to follow. Jesus, says the writer to the Hebrews, has gone into the presence of God to make it safe for all of us to follow. Indeed, he goes ahead of us into all of life!
The women discovered that truth on the first Easter Day. They had gone prepared to embalm the body, even though they knew they could not possibly remove the stone sealing the tomb – but when they arrived they found that God had already removed the stone. He was there before them.
Early in the church’s history a group of believers met to pray for the release of the imprisoned Peter. An angel appeared to Peter, telling him to get up, put on his clothes and sandals and follow him. They made marvellous progress but were finally confronted by the iron gate on the prison perimeter. As they approached it, the gate swung open of its own accord, and Peter was at liberty (Acts 12:10). God had gone before, preparing the way.
When Bunyan’s pilgrim was nearing the Palace Beautiful, he was dismayed to see two lions guarding the entrance. Their roaring nearly made him turn back, but Watchful, the porter, told him to go forward boldly, keeping in the middle of the path. When he did so, and got right up to the lions, he found that they were firmly chained, and could not reach him.
We often worry beforehand about some interview, some new responsibility, some operation; but discover that when the event takes place we have been carried through in the most amazing way. Fear, which has large eyes, dreads the future, but faith moves confidently forward, convinced of what the theologians call ‘prevenient grace’, the grace that goes before us. As the renowned spiritual counsellor Baron von Hügel put it: “God is always previous.”
His promises are true
“He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you” (v7). The young man is reminding the disciples of a promise made in the upper room ( John 14:28): “After I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
During his exploits in Africa, David Livingstone once found himself in a particularly tricky corner. He recalled Christ’s promise, “Lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20), and set it down in his diary as ‘the word of a gentleman of the most sacred and strictest honour’.
Stephen of Mar Saba’s famous hymn, Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid? recalls the gospel promise, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” ( John 6:37). The author asks, “If I ask him to receive me, will he say me nay?”, and supplies the robust answer, “Not till earth and not till heaven pass away.”
He keeps his promises, and is solicitous even for the Peter who denied him.
Very Rev Dr David Clarke is a former PCI Moderator.
Illustration: Jessica Hollywood
