Sunday 20th April 2025 – Easter Sunday

Acts 10: 34-43

Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

I Corinthians 15: 19-26

John 20: 1-18

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.”

I Corinthians 15: 20

Before we consider the empty tomb, the bewildered disciples, and mourning Mary in the garden, let’s go back in time (as it were) to consider another garden, and what took place there…

The very beginning of the Bible is the account of God creating the universe. In Genesis 2 and 3, we read of God creating humanity in a beautiful garden. First in the story comes Adam; then Eve… They are in close fellowship with God, and all is well – for a time…

We likely all know what is revealed next: The crafty serpent tempts the humans to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil… (Out of all God’s abundance and generosity, to eat the fruit from that tree is the one thing which is forbidden to them…)

As a result of their disobedience, humanity’s union with God is broken: We can experience shame. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve are driven out of the Garden of Eden – that delightful garden of close fellowship with their Creator…

We are all sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, you see: We can long for fellowship with God, but our persistent habits of moral disobedience prevents our full union with God, who is perfect, and who is perfectly holy… We can never return to that garden, the Garden of Eden…

When the time was right (Galatians 4: 4), God acted decisively: The good news of Christianity is that God entered this broken world: God the Son became incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, through whom we can enjoy a glorious reunion with God. The self-offering of Jesus breaks the power of sin and death…

The glorious news of Easter morning is that Jesus Christ is risen! Jesus Christ lives again, after his death… Even more glorious, you and I share in his risen life through the power of the Holy Spirit…

Now, it took the disciples a little while to catch on to what God has done: When the women discover the empty tomb and report the absence of Jesus’ body, Peter and John run to the tomb in confusion and astonishment, finding it just as the women had said. Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb… John later records that angels speak to Mary Magdalene, to reassure…

Mary has stayed behind, you see, in the garden, near the empty tomb. Jesus’ body had been placed in a kind of cave in a garden – not far from where he had been crucified – and a very large stone had been rolled over the mouth of the tomb to secure it… The bewildering disappearance of Jesus’ body is too much for Mary, who begins to weep in the garden nearby…

Then… guess who shows up! At first, Mary believes it is the gardener – but when the risen Jesus speaks her name, she recognizes what is naturally impossible: “I have seen the Lord,” Mary recounts to the apostles…

The Church family consistently asserts that Jesus Christ, although he had died (no one ever survived a Roman crucifixion), lives again, after his death… Even more wonderful, he shares this new life with us… We are a new creation, through the finished work of Jesus Christ…

Mary first recognized the risen Lord Jesus in a garden… It’s not a reversal back to the Garden of Eden – that Garden is gone for ever, with the loss of our innocence… Instead, the consequences of our disobedience are overcome: We are swept up into a glorious new life, and restored into perfect fellowship with the Living God…

One of the many titles for Jesus of Nazareth is that he is the “Second Adam…” The first Adam introduced sin and division into the world. Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, triumphs over sin, and reconciles us with God…

An ancient Easter Anthem called the Exaultet includes these words:

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood, and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father… Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness… Jesus Christ broke the chains of death, and rose triumphant from the grave. Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love!

In the Garden of Eden, sin was introduced to humanity. In the garden outside the empty tomb, Mary first learns that the power of sin and death has been broken. Jesus Christ is victorious over sin and death…

Let’s bear in mind that there is another reference to abundant creation – this time, near the very end of the Bible… An early Christian named John has a vision about the time of Christ’s return. (We can read, in the Book of Revelation, how John struggles to put into words God’s amazing work, which is beyond words…) We read there is a new city – the new Jerusalem – when there is the union of heaven and earth. The city is full of God’s light, and there are no tears; no pain; no death…

Curiously, right in the center of the city, there is the river of life; there are trees with abundant fruit growing near the banks of the river… The fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden was not to be eaten… These trees bear abundant fruit, and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations…

We can’t go back to the Garden of Eden. We can, however, like Mary in the garden, proclaim with joy and wonder Christ’s risen life – for we are his… Even more amazing and wonderful, we anticipate a future, glorious Day, when heaven and earth are united. By grace, we will belong to the new Jerusalem, within which is the river of life, and abundant growth for all, for the healing of the nations…

Christ is risen!

Alleluia. Amen…