Jesus’ resurrection is something completely new – life in all its fullness – not just for Jesus himself, but for everyone.

The first sign of the new creation is an empty tomb. Emotions are all over the place. Intellectually, it just doesn’t make sense. But something big is going on. An interesting contrast is offered in a BBC3 horror drama, in which the characters are not entirely living.

This week's news 

 In the Flesh is a 3-part television series showing on BBC3. The last part will appear on Sunday, Easter Day. The story is about zombies, dead people who come back to life and kill and eat the living. But in this twist to the tale, drugs can help manage ‘partially deceased syndrome’ and sufferers are being returned to care in the community. At one level it is about prejudice and scapegoating, but appearing at this point in the liturgical year, it gives another, perverse, picture of rising from the dead. 

Meanwhile, in our world, the weather remains cold and wintry with few signs of spring and new life. In some areas, livestock is at risk just as lambing begins. Last week’s budget felt somewhat flat, Cyprus is struggling in its financial crisis, and the government is proposing changes to housing and immigration policies that are being challenged by church leaders. How far are these signs of death and despair?

At the same time, there are signs of hope and expectation in the inauguration of two world religious leaders, the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. How much difference will they make?

Reflection

Just when they think it’s all over, just when the women think they are going to complete the rites of burial, they find that everything has changed. The tomb is empty. Then the news comes in shining lights, brighter than the light of dawn. The darkness is over. They announce: Jesus is not dead, he is risen.

Christ is no longer dead, he is not even ‘partially deceased’. But that is difficult to come to terms with. Even good news requires a massive adjustment. And this is beyond anything in their experience.

Despite all that Jesus had told them, the women and the disciples weren’t expecting the resurrection. The mood of the Gospel passage is fear and confusion, surprise and astonishment, and not yet in a good way. They are still trying to come to terms with what has happened. Look at the words and phrases that signify the mood: perplexed, terrified, seemed to them an idle tale, amazed.

Christ’s resurrection is not about reanimating a dead body. Lazarus and the others whom Jesus raised from the dead would die again, but Jesus’ resurrection was something entirely new. This is the New Creation, no longer subject to death. It makes a new way of living possible for everyone, a new future – not just for one person, Jesus, but for everyone. Jesus was not a zombie, not a partially deceased person, a resuscitated corpse, but life anew, filled with God’s power, wholly alive.

We use different strategies to manage difficult situations. The authorities in In the Flesh have medicalised the zombie plague, and the community scapegoats the sufferers. There has been a lot of scapegoating this last week on issues of immigration and housing. The apostles don’t believe the women at first, and dismiss their stories out of hand. Who do you believe? Who tells the truth?

Prayer

A prayer to use with a reflective group:

Lord, we came well prepared:

all those spices, 80 pounds, all mixed with oil.

But you weren’t there any more.

No dead body to tend and anoint.

Now what do we do?

Lord, we come well prepared:

our hopes and plans, our dreams and ambitions.

But you weren’t there where we expected to find you. 

If there was a death, we hadn’t noticed.

Now what do we do?

Lord, we come empty,

not knowing, not certain.

Fill us with your desire, your love, your compassion.

and the soft breath of your Spirit, nudging.

Ready for what you want us to do.

Amen.

Questions

I read the Gospel passage while thinking about some of the ways in which we celebrate the resurrection in church, such as early morning services. I found myself reading ‘tomb’ as ‘church’. And was quite shocked at myself. Try it! And reflect on it. What are the implications? Are there times when traditional church feels like a tomb? 

And what does new life, resurrection life, mean for our churches?

Action

Find images of the resurrection painted in different centuries for example on the Textweek site. Look at them carefully. How do the artists try to make sense of the resurrection visually? 

Young People

If the women and the disciples had had Twitter, how would they be tweeting the discovery of the empty tomb, the search for the body, the encounter with the angels, and the confusion over what has happened?

Or, if this has been overdone:

There are three groups of characters in the Gospel story: the women who go to the tomb, the male apostles, the angels. How are their reactions to the absence of the body similar or different? 

Meg Gilley is a parish priest in Gateshead. 

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