Sermon for Easter 2008
The name of Elvis Presley is a name that is known to young and old alike. He was named ‘The King’ and although he died in 1977 his memory lives on. Even today there are competitions for Elvis impersonators and one of them appears regularly answering questions on Radio 2. But there is a whole group of people who believe that he did not die and is alive and well. The evidence that they have for this theory is that they say his coffin was far too heavy and that it contained a wax effigy along with an air conditioning unit to stop the wax melting. They also claim that his middle name, Aaron, was mis-spelt on his gravestone and they point out that the name Elvis is an anagram of the word ‘lives’.
Well, if you think that Elvis is still alive and living next door to you, or even sitting on the pew next to you, he would be 73 years old. You can even click on a website to report the sighting!
But we are here today to say with all our hearts that the King is alive! Jesus Christ has conquered death and we are the evidence. The bible evidence is about an empty tomb and some rather confused stories about what was discovered on that first Easter morning. Then there were the various resurrection appearances which turned a group of mourners into people who were both excited and confused because Jesus was alive, but the real proof of the resurrection is that for two thousand years people have come to experience its power in their hearts and lives.
Many years ago, a Christian who was imprisoned for his faith wrote of his experience of Easter amidst the harshness of a Siberian prison camp. He wrote
Yet Easter was there: great, holy, spiritual, unforgettable. It was blessed by the presence of our risen God among us – blessed by the silent Siberian stars and our sorrows. How our hearts beat joyfully in communion with the great Resurrection! Death is conquered, fear no more, and eternal Easter is given to us! Full of this marvellous Easter, we send you from our prison camp the victorious and joyful tidings: Christ is risen!
The Easter message is that God raised Jesus to life and that has changed everything. There is the story of Mary Magdalene walking in the garden on that first Easter morning and finding the tomb empty she asks the gardener where they had taken Jesus’ body. Then, when the gardener spoke to her, Mary realised that it was Jesus. He was indeed the gardener, the new Adam walking in the garden in the cool of the day because the resurrection brings about a new created order. Mary embraced Jesus, but he told her ‘Don’t cling to me’ – their relationship had changed and her task was to go and proclaim the message of the resurrection to the disciples.
When I first became a bishop, I used to get ‘phone calls just before Easter from newspapers carrying out a survey of bishops. I would be asked the question, ‘Do you believe in the literal and physical resurrection of Jesus?’ I was only allowed to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and so that I wasn’t put down as an unbelieving bishop, I used to say ‘yes’ – but the words ‘literal and physical’ implied resuscitation rather than resurrection and the Church has never believed in resuscitation. The body of the risen Lord was different from his earthy body and the significance of the resurrection is much greater than a miracle of resuscitation. Resurrection is the deep truth that can be experienced two thousand years later by people who have entered into a relationship with Jesus. It is the knowledge that he has triumphed even over death and now opens the gates to life with God for each one of us. In baptism we died with him as we were drowned in the waters, but we were also raised to a new life with him and were born again to a new spiritual birth. It is that experience that enables someone suffering in a Siberian labour camp to proclaim the Easter experience that fills him with joy and praise. It is that experience that should enable us to live our Christian lives, so that no matter what ills and sorrow may come our way, no matter what hardships and pains we may have to face, we never lose that deep inner conviction that God is good and his love endures for ever because he has triumphed and calls us to share in that Easter experience. As St Augustine said, ‘We are an Easter people and ‘Alleluia’ is our song’.
The message we hear on our televisions every Saturday night is that six numbers could transform our lives. The message that we hear Sunday by Sunday is that our lives have already been transformed by the power of the resurrection. A lottery win might improve our earthly pilgrimage but the greatest reality of all is what happens after death. You will know the story of the children who were watching their grandmother reading the bible. One of the children asked the others,’ What is Granny reading?’ and the others said, ‘She is studying for her finals’. Yes, in the end we shall all die – no matter how perfect the NHS, the death rate will remain a hundred percent but for those who die in Christ, death is not the end but the beginning of a newer and fuller life with God because of the resurrection. ‘Now we see through a glass darkly, but one day we shall behold him face to face’.
Those who believe that Elvis is still alive are showing the human yearning for immortality, but Christians know that this life is not the end because Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection, and I am the life; those who believes in me, though they die, yet shall they live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.’
Alleluia Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.