Thursday 9 August 2018

11th Sunday after Pentecost 5 Aug 2018 Sermon


11th Sunday after Pentecost 5.8.18 Resurrection

When Our Lord rose from the dead He appeared to a succession of disciples. He did not appear to unbelievers.

Nor does He appear to most of His disciples when it comes to later generations.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe (Jn 20,29). He wanted us to be so strong in faith that we would not be always seeking proof. We come to a firm basis of belief, and then build on that.

We ‘perceive’ rather than ‘see’ Him. His resurrection is ingrained in us, enabling us to act in confidence, even to the point of giving up our lives.

Thus we see so many martyrs in our history, cheerfully yielding themselves to death, knowing that they would emerge even more alive in eternity.

Why did Our Lord not appear to everyone, including people like Pilate, Herod and Caiaphas?

If people are not properly disposed they will not benefit from a miracle, even if they see one.

Come down from the Cross and we will believe in you… they said (Mk 15,30). But they probably would not have believed. They would have said it was sorcery, or an illusion etc.

We believe it first, then we see it (or perceive it).

It is a belief which we must keep front and centre of our lives, always on the boil. We live among people of little or no faith. We have to be able to stand apart from the mockers and the cynics, not letting them drag us down.

For St Paul it was the main message. Christ rose from the dead. Think about it: Who can do that? Is it not a proof of divinity? Who holds the keys of life and death like that? It must be the same God who created us and the whole world.

This man was dead beyond question and buried in a tomb, with a large rock across the entrance. Yet He came out of that tomb of His own accord and power. For it was impossible that death could hold Him (Ac 2,24).

And we believe in the resurrection of the body… (Creed) 

Sometimes we are accused of believing in the Resurrection only because we want to believe it. No, we believe it because it is true.

We do not see resurrections every day. If we walk through a cemetery, no one rises before our eyes. Yet God could raise any, or all of them. But such is not His plan. The occasional person has come back to life, but the main plan is that there will be a general resurrection on the Last Day, with the good being raised in bodily glory, and the unrepentant in shame, condemned to Hell.

We can make sure it is Heaven for us.

It is certainly true that we want to believe in the Resurrection; but it is no less true for that.

It is a completely logical belief. The world did not make itself, nor did we make ourselves. A benevolent wise powerful Being made all this. It is not then so much to believe that He would want life to endure over death. It was death before He gave it life! Why would He make us for death? Death was not of his fashioning (Wis 1,13).

If He can make us the first time, it is no more trouble for Him to re-form us a second time.

Even non-religious people believe in life after death, however hazily. They hope that their loved ones are in some state of happiness.

We hope the same, only as Christians we can give the belief more substance.

We can offer hope to those who do not yet believe, or believe only faintly.

Christ’s resurrection gives us hope of eternal life. By the help of His grace we can make that a certain hope.

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