Sixth Sunday in Easter
Acts 10:34–48  1 John 5:1–8  John 15:9–17
Tapani Simojoki, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Ruislip
17 May 2008

In the name of † Jesus.
Amen.

Let us pray.
Holy Father, sanctify us in the truth. Your word is truth.
Amen.

It is told of John Wesley that when he, as a young Anglican priest, first came to understand the depth of his own sin and the immensity of God’s grace in Christ, his first reaction was to take himself off to a hut in the Yorkshire moors in order to dedicate his life to God in meditation and prayer. In the end, this plan to shut himself away came to nothing, because Wesley was reminded by a wiser, older Christian that “there is no such thing as solitary Christianity”. Christians do not live as isolated atoms connected by an individual thread to God. Rather, to be a Christian is to be in a community, and to live in communion with God and with other Christians.

The Resurrection of Our Lord

 Curate Tapani Simojoki
12 April 2009

Mark 16:1-8

"When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

In the name of † Jesus.

Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Alleluia!  Praise the Lord!

Christ is risen from the grave and by His death and resurrection He has vanquished death for ever. Following centuries-old Christian tradition, the artist of one of our stained-glass images portrays Christ on Easter morning as emerging from a tomb with the victor’s banner in His left hand, with His right hand raised in blessing. Trampling on death, holding aloft the sign of His triumph and sharing the blessing of eternal life to all who look to Him. The war between righteousness and sin, between life and death, has been decided, with righteousness and life the undisputed winners and sin and death the eternal losers.

What joy!  What unequivocally good news!

It seems strange, then, that it seems that joy is almost entirely absent from our Gospel text. It’s even stranger if it is true, as many scholars think, that this Gospel reading is the original ending of Mark’s Gospel.