Christ is risen!
St Peter’s Wellington, 27 April 2025
Bishop Richard Randerson richardrandersonnz [at] gmail.com
Website: www.awordforallseasons.co.nz
Today, three Resurrection themes:
- What the Resurrection means
- Redemptive suffering – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Life after death
1. Resurrection: An article in The Post last week on Lloyd Geering highlighted his heresy trial by the Presbyterians for an article he wrote in 1966 entitled What does the Resurrection mean, a trial in which he was acquitted. What disturbed many was his quoting of a statement by English theologian R. Grigor Smith that Jesus’ bones might lie somewhere in Palestine. I agree with them both the reality of the Resurrection does not depend on any theory about Jesus’ bones. (Luke 24.5: why do you look for the living among the dead?) Lloyd Geering today is 107 and has done much to unpack the meaning and depth of the scriptures, although I differ from him in some aspects of his theology.
The reality of the Resurrection is seen in the changed lives of the disciples when they encountered the risen Christ. In today’s Gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples and later to Thomas (John 20.19-31). They were overjoyed and Thomas said, “My Lord and my God”.
And then in Luke 24.13-35 there is the moving story of how Clopas and a friend encountered a stranger on the road to Emmaus who became known to them in the breaking of the bread. They reported that their “hearts had burned within them”. In John 21.1-14 there is the account of the disciples fishing and noticing a figure on the beach lighting a BBQ fire. It was John who said: “it is the Lord” and they all went ashore and broke bread together.
In all these (and other) encounters we note two things: there is a mystery about the nature of Jesus’ risen body: it appears and disappears; it is not immediately recognised; it can eat bread. But the key thing is the transformation of the disciples. From grief and desolation they become followers filled with confidence and joy who go out to proclaim
the risen Christ.
John 20.31: “ But these (accounts) are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. Now all of that was 2000 years ago, but the Church was formed arising out of the experience of the disciples. And we know it is true today also because of our experience of the risen Christ in our own lives. Jesus is our constant companion in joy and sorrow offering new life and hope.
2. Redemptive suffering is also part of the resurrection story. You may have seen the recent film on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian who studied in New York in 1930. Returning to Germany he was outspoken against the Nazi regime while the Church was silent. He said that “silence in the face of evil is evil. Not to speak is to speak; not to act is to act.” He was executed in 1945, aged 39, for a plot to assassinate Hitler, just days before end of WW2.
Fellow pastor Martin Niemoller said: “When they came for the socialists I said nothing because I was not a socialist. When they came for the trade unionists I said nothing because I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews I said nothing because I was not a Jew. And when they came for me there was no one to speak up for me.”
Suffering at the hand of evil is redemptive. The centurion at the foot of the Cross, a hardened Roman soldier, when he saw Jesus die said: “Truly this man was the son of God (Matthew 27.54). And Tertullian, around 200 CE said “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”.
3. Life after death: as we think about life after death we remember today family members and friends who have gone before us in life and faith. We remember also at this Anzactide those who have laid down their lives in war and we pray for peace in our time. We also remember His Holiness Pope Francis whose faith led him into a leadership that changed the world. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
There are many images (eg in the book of Revelation and parts of the gospels) about the day of judgment, heaven and hell. It is known as apocalyptic imagery and requires its own interpretation . But I have always been helped by the words of American theologian Henry Nelson Wieman who wrote of life after death as “hope without prediction.” We cannot predict the details of what lies beyond death, but we have hope in the full Christian sense of confidence that in life and in death we are with God.
As Jesus died on the Cross he said: Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my Spirit. I use them every night before sleeping. They are words of trust and confidence that God is with us in life and in death and beyond death, words we can use daily and finally.
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!