The greatest festival of all - atonement

The Time of Waiting is now over. The last weeks have been a time for deepening our understanding so that we may enter the mystery of Easter. Finally we come once again in Holy Week to that place at the foot of the Cross, to know the forgiveness which comes from what is called the atonement – the man who substitutes himself for us by taking our place, the place of the sinner.

We can begin to understand that we are made at-one with God as we are freed from those bonds of sin and death. At the same time we know that this man has been lifted up and is victorious on the Cross, for ‘God is reigning from the tree’ (the words of an Easter hymn we sang last week).

As the ecumenical group of Christians reached the top of the hill above the town at the end of the Good Friday way of the cross, just at the final reading as we knelt in silence and then sang the final hymn, a soft rain fell for a couple of minutes. It would have been a welcome relief to the tortured figure on the cross in the heat of the day in Jerusalem; for us it may have seemed an inconvenience. But that gentle spring rain reminded us of that other kingly reign as Jesus was lifted up on the Cross, that victory over the powers of Satan was assured .

So the waiting is ended. But waiting for what? Lengthening days, the warming rays of the sun, the bursting forth of the spring buds – certainly. Yet something far greater - today we come to celebrate the great Day of Resurrection, the greatest of all days in time and in eternity. And so I will pose a question - how do we use this time to be a real time of meeting with God?  How does that gospel of atonement (being freed from our sinfulness by the crucified Christ) become a gospel of meeting with the Risen Christ (triumphant over death and sin for all time)?

The time of Meeting

The time of meeting begins in God’s commitment to us on the Cross – God is reconciled to us through Christ and so brings all mankind back to him. We have been “saved by his precious blood”. But God also gives us the means of being reconciled to him, of returning to him. Last night in this church  a few of us re-enacted the most ancient liturgy of the Christian Church – the Easter Vigil – it is full of symbolism – the new fire lit outside the church, as night set in this huge stone building became the tomb where Christ was lain. The echoing voices and the dim lights signify the dark sepulchre. But the dimly burning wicks became incandescent as the great reredos is opened and the Easter gospel is proclaimed, the baptismal promises are made again, and the resurrection meal, the Eucharist, is shared. These moments leading through into the great daylight celebration this morning give us the power to be reconciled to God.

God has made his commitment to each one of us. We are now called to make our commitment to him. It may be that this year is a time of spiritual reawakening for you. Maybe the need for that personal commitment in return has never happened. Perhaps like the bystanders on the Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross to Calvary, you have looked on in amazement at the ‘foolishness of God’, as St. Paul describes God’s humbling of himself - that foolishness which is greater than all human wisdom. But we have knowledge beyond anything before at any time in history. The lone figure on the skyline of Calvary can be a distant image to the post-modern, relativist educated mind.

This is the time and place of meeting with the Risen Christ, as we put our doubts against the backdrop of the whole plan of God in history. They ‘saw and believed’. This is the challenge to each one of us, the meeting place with God, which relies on God’s commitment to us and also our commitment to see with the eye of faith.

The Way Forward – Disciples of the Risen Christ

The Acts of the Apostles tells us of the pockets of Christian believers who organised themselves around a radical faith in the crucified one. Luke describes them in Acts as those “who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Christian communities in the Western Church are going through a time of change and decline. Many churches like St. Mary’s have closed and others will close in the future. Political infighting within church communities and a largely secular and social gospel have hastened that decline. The way forward for our community of faith is for a radical discipleship based on the faith and commitment of those first disciples to the Risen Lord. Luke goes on to say: “He commanded us to preach to the people”. We urgently need a  preaching and teaching ministry, based on daily prayer, discipleship groups committed to the Lord and to each other, meeting in openness and honesty, built on trust and mutual love, and above all worshipping and praying together. The question today’s Resurrection gospel poses to you. Are you ready to put any doubts behind? Are you ready to follow, even unto death? Are you ready to fully share in the Resurrection meal that we are sharing here today in the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood? Then, if so, let us share wholeheartedly in this meal today and commit ourselves to the future path together! Christ is Risen. Let us celebrate the feast!