Context
We continue to celebrate the Easter story notwithstanding the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the devastating terror attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Day itself, many targeted at Christians at prayer. For resurrection does not promise that all will be well in this life but that in the end we shall all be at one with God.
Many wiser than this writer have responded in this context - one example is Lucy Winkett’s Thought for the Day (BBC Radio 4) on 23 April which also linked Easter with climate change protests. For, whatever you think of the tactics of the Extinction Rebellion protesters, they are reminding us that, in the end, the challenge of climate change is greater even than terrorism or the most devastating fire.
Don’t forget to keep using the Easter greeting throughout the Easter season:
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Reflection
- At the heart of today’s gospel reading, is the hesitation shown by Thomas but surely shared by others then and since. Evidence is needed to confirm the unexpected, let alone the impossible. The risen Christ provides Thomas with the evidence but nevertheless commends ‘those who have not seen and yet have come to believe’ (John 20.29).
- It is interesting that the same Thomas is the one who says ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’ (John 11.16) and asks another challenging question ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ (John 15.5).
- Thomas is sometimes labelled ‘doubting’ arguably unfairly because his quest for evidence is surely legitimate, even sensible. In this world of fake news, there is a tendency that all of us come to believe that which confirms our existing prejudices, irrespective of the evidence. Do not we who preach what we say is truth have a particular responsibility to take evidence seriously?
- Tom Wright has described the resurrection as a startling new beginning, not an unexpected happy ending. Do those of us who have grown up knowing the story understand fully quite how startling and unexpected it is?
- Against the background of tragedy, whether personal or global, it can be hard to believe in the light at the end of the tunnel which the resurrection represents. But according to Paul, after ‘Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died’ then ‘then at his coming those who belong to Christ’ will also be raised (1 Corinthians 15.20-23).
- J P McAuley’s hymn (The law of Christ alone can make us free) which includes this verse is not in many hymn books but it seems relevant to these circumstances:
There is no promise that we shall not suffer
No promise that we shall not need to fight
Only the word that love is our redemption
And freedom comes by turning to the light.
(Baptist Praise & Worship 640, Hymns & Psalms 407, With One Voice 554)
- One of John Bell’s Easter hymns (Christ has risen while earth slumbers) is set to a tune which John calls Transformation and it ends with the lines:
Evidence of transformation
in which God is known and seen.
Easter is surely about transformation. It is about the death of those things in our lives which hinder the mission of God and a new start to a new life in which God’s mission for the world is at the centre of our lives. Moreover this Easter message of transformation is for all people, not just those who come to church.
Prayer(s)
A theme prayer, perhaps for use after a sermon or talk:
Creator God, we reflect again in the midst of an uncertain world
on the mystery of Christ’s resurrection.
Help us who were not there to meet the risen Christ
nevertheless come to believe not just in the risen Christ
but also in the significance of his rising for all people.
And may we always seek the truth of your kingdom even in this world of fake news.
In Christ’s name we pray, this Eastertide and always. Amen.
In your prayers of intercession, amongst those suffering from conflict or violence remember those affected by the terror attacks in Christchurch (New Zealand) and in Sri Lanka on Easter Day.
This prayer was posted on the Salisbury Cathedral Facebook page after the Notre Dame fire:
Prions pour (pray for) Notre-Dame
Lord Jesus, your broken body, laid aside, rose in glory.
Give resurrection hope to the people of Paris
and all who grieve the destructive fire at Notre Dame.
From the ashes may beauty once more arise,
as from the grave our new life comes. Amen.
Questions
Do you think that Thomas should have believed the other disciples or do you like the way he looked for evidence? Would you, like Thomas, have also sought for evidence rather than the assertion of the others, even your friends and companions?
Are you the sort of person who trusts what other people say or do you seek external evidence?
Someone who has lived in Australia said to me that it was very odd to celebrate Easter there during the autumn. Do you find the signs of new life associated with Spring in Europe helpful in your understanding of resurrection new life?
All-age activity
Draw pictures of the flowers in your church and explain why they symbolise Easter.
Discuss your favourite Easter hymns; why do you like your choices?
Young people
Talk about the hesitant Thomas and his wish to see evidence that Jesus really was alive and that it really was the crucified Jesus who had visited them. Discuss which of the group would have sought hard evidence and which of you would have trusted what the friends said - and why?
Dudley Coates is a Local Preacher in the Yeovil and Blackmore Vale Methodist Circuit and a former Vice President of the Methodist Conference.
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