Easter Sunday
Dear Brothers and Sisters, we have just listened to the words of St Paul in his letter to the Colossians when he said, “Since you have been brought back to true life in Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven...” (Col 3.1). What do these words mean for us? What is this “true life”, and what does it mean to “look for the things that are in heaven”?
You and I are, of course, creatures of flesh and blood; but we are not simply creatures of flesh and blood. Insofar as we can understand things we can see that we are different from many other creatures of flesh and blood: we can communicate, we can undertake actions which are motivated by altruism, which are not simply part of our biological programming; and, perhaps most extraordinary, we have a longing for everlasting life which we do not believe to exist in other creatures. Our sensed experience of life is limited to the present age but the Resurrection of the Lord adds a new dimension to our life, it adds the dimension of faith – and faith means that we can now look beyond death to a new life which is promised to all of us.
What can we say about this new life? We have a few clues from the resurrection appearances of the Lord: we know that there is a continuity with this present life. The risen Lord had a body which could be touched, which could eat, and a voice which could be heard. But we know also that his risen body had significant discontinuities also: the risen Jesus was not always recognisable and could appear and disappear. Most significantly we know that Risen Lord is continually in the presence of his Father. This risen life is now offered to us. We are invited to embrace true life in the presence of the Father.
We are invited to begin this new life now. Like our Saviour Jesus Christ we will not know the full glory of true life until we have passed through the door of death, but since this true life is related to living in union with the Father we can begin this new life today by living in obedience to the Father’s will. This is what is meant by looking to the things that are in heaven.
And just how do we do the Father’s will? We do the Father’s will by following in the footsteps of our brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel narratives allow us to come to know our Saviour. The tradition handed down in the Church enables us to interpret these Scriptures with certainty about what we are doing. The sacraments which our Saviour entrusted to the Church provide us with forgiveness, food and heavenly encouragement for our journey through life. We are indeed a blessed people, the Lord’s own people, blessed by his gifts. And his will is that we should share the news of his resurrection with all mankind and that this news should encourage us to work together to build a foretaste of the heavenly kingdom here on earth.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is still much for us to do, for our world lies broken and sick; but on this Easter morning let us draw renewed encouragement from our Risen Lord and filled with confidence let us share the good news of salvation with all with whom we live.