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In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says that: “Everything old has passed away; and everything has become new!” In the death and resurrection of Jesus, we experience that new beginning.
On Easter Sunday, Christians greet each other with the phrase; ‘Happy Easter.’ though, the atmosphere on the first Easter Sunday was not happiness, but sorrow, tears and fear. Today after over 2000 years, we still find ourselves in the same scenario of sorrow, tears, fears and displacements in most parts of the world.
We celebrate because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the victory of life over death and it is our hope. That hope is the power of God that can bring new life even in difficult and hopeless circumstances.
Early on that first Easter Sunday morning Mary went to the tomb and found the tomb was open. The men were in hiding and she had to go and inform them in their hiding place. The men only came out running to verify the information and they hurried back to their hiding place. Jesus’ tomb is open and empty but the disciples’ house and the doors were locked tight. The house has become their tomb. Jesus is on the loose and the disciples are bound in fear.
The disciples have separated themselves and their lives from the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. Their doors of faith have been closed. They have shut their eyes to the reality that life is now different. They left the empty tomb of Jesus and entered their own tombs of fear, doubt, and blindness. Let’s also check ourselves, what are the locked doors of our life, our heart, our mind that keeps us in the tomb? Maybe, like the disciples, it is fear. Maybe it is disbelief, or the conditions we place on our faith. Perhaps it is sorrow and loss. For others it may be anger and resentment. Some seem unable or unwilling to open up to new ideas, possibilities, and change. Let’s learn from Mary, she expected to find the dead body to anoint it, but instead she found the risen Christ and unknowingly she identified Jesus as the gardener, v 15, but not knowing that he is the risen Lord who is bringing a new world, a new life, and a new creation into being.
In Jesus’ resurrection God finds us like Mary when we have lost hope, he stands calling us with a familiar voice to new life and to “go and tell others.” In the history of humanity before the resurrection, death was a permanent enemy that abruptly ended human live forever. But on the Cross, Jesus entered the dark tunnel of death and triumphantly rose again to prove that there was an exit from death to life.
That makes Christianity not a religion, but faith in a living Lord, that is why the life of Mary Magdalene instantly changed from weeping to joy because she saw the risen Jesus!
The resurrection of Jesus brings changes in human life and in human history. It instantly changed the life of Mary Magdalene from weeping to joy when she saw the risen Lord. The resurrection even changed the ancient practice of a 7th day Sabbath and replaced it with a Sunday sabbath. Each Sunday we come to church to worship the Lord. The reason we do so is because, Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week which is Sunday, and this has always been the highest point of observance for the Church.
As we celebrate today, what change can the resurrection bring in our life and in our families? Should we continue in locked doors?
Let us therefore celebrate Easter this year by ceasing all kinds of hatred, bad politics and violence, and recommit ourselves to peace, and reconciliation. Prophet Isaiah gives a picture that: Former things will not be remembered, Jerusalem will be a delight and its people a joy, even the wild animals shall be reconciled together. (Isaiah 65:17-25)
With that hope for a reconciled humanity, St Paul says: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor 15:58) May all our worries and fears turn into joy and hope for a new creation where there will be a new beginning.
The Most Rev Dr Justin Badi
Primate of the Episcopal Church in South Sudan and
Chairman of GSFA
