The Lord is risen! – He is risen indeed. Alleluia

The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a cornerstone of our belief as Christians, and yet it is one that we need to understand clearly for what it is and what it means for us today. Over the years it has been a topic of debate and no less so than in 1967 when Lloyd Geering was tried for heresy by the Presbyterian Church. He had written an article the previous year in which he had quoted a Scottish theologian, R. Grigor Smith, who had written that Jesus’ bones might lie in Palestine. What Grigor Smith was saying is that evidence of Jesus’ resurrection does not depend on any theory about what happened to the bones. Geering was acquitted of heresy and a book on the trial has just been published by fellow theologian Jim Veitch:- Lloyd Geering – Prophet or Heretic? I have much respect for Lloyd Geering as one whose lifetime work has been to delve deeply into the scriptures and rid the Bible of literalistic and fundamentalist interpretations. But he tends to regard Jesus as a sage rather than “Son of God”, which latter is also a cornerstone of our faith. (See letter at end).

The truth of the Resurrection lies in Jesus’ appearances to the disciples and the life-changing impact that had on their lives. John 20 has several examples:

• Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb early on the third day and finds it empty. She sees two angels in the tomb and then later she talks to someone she supposes to be the gardener who says to her “Mary”. Her eyes open now, she replies to him “Rabboni” – teacher. So Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ and she runs to tell the others.
• These included Peter and John who had also gone to the tomb and finding it empty returned to report to the others. The empty tomb is not evidence of resurrection: it led only to confusion – what had happened?
• Then Jesus appears to the disciples behind locked doors and shows them his wounded hands and his side. They are overjoyed and Jesus breathes on them to receive the Holy Spirit with the commission: “as the Father has sent me so I send you”.
• And then the story of Thomas who was absent and says he wants to see for himself before he will believe. So a week later Jesus again appears behind locked doors and Thomas, seeing Jesus’ hands and side, says “My lord and my God”..

• The disciples on the Emmaus road (Luke 24) whose heart burned within them as a stranger explained the scriptures to them and became known to them in the breaking of bread.
• The BBQ breakfast on the beach (John 21) and it was John who first saw the stranger and said “it is the Lord”. Peter jumped in the water and swam ashore while Jesus cooked some of the 153 fish they had caught.

So what do we conclude from these accounts?

1. That resurrection is to do with the life-changing effect the risen Christ has on his followers. The manner of his coming and going is a mystery but the effect is real.
2. That resurrection is not first and foremost a doctrinal belief but is an experience that comes from an encounter with the risen Jesus.  The experience precedes the doctrine.
3. It is out of this experience that the Church took root, grew and spread over 2000 years throughout the world.
4. That the experience of resurrection is real and personal for each of us today as we wrestle with grief or sorrow yet find that Jesus comes to us bringing new life and hope.

Resurrection may be seen also in a global context. We live in a world where self-interest and greed (personal and collective), sorrow and suffering are all around us. Yet the scriptures talk of a new heaven and a new earth, a world of peace:

Isa 2.4: They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks.

Isa 65.17-25: There will be a new heaven and earth where people will live long lives…they shall build houses and live in them…they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit…they shall not bear children for calamity – a poignant note when we think today of Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Iran and other places.

Isaiah’s vision is picked up in Revelation 21 where we read that this new heaven and earth is coming down from heaven – it is here, amongst us, and we are agents with the risen Christ in bringing it about. Resurrection has this cosmic missional and vocational dimension of new life rising from the ashes of the old.

Resurrection and life after death: there are many images here. What I have found most helpful are the words of theologian Henry Nelson Wieman who wrote of life after death as “hope without prediction”. We cannot predict the details of what lies beyond this life but we can approach it with the fullness of Christian hope and trust that in life and in death God is with us. As Jesus died on the Cross he said: “Lord into your hands I commend my spirit”. I say these words nightly before I sleep, and they are words that we can say as we pass from this life knowing the peace that passes all understanding that in life and in death God is with us, we are never alone.  There is a parallel in John 3 where Jesus talks with Nicodemus about how “the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[   As we know, wind and spirit are the same word (pneuma) in Greek and Jesus is saying that in all of life we are carried by God’s wind.

So in summary, Resurrections speaks to us of the life-transforming experience of the risen Christ who brings new life and hope in the midst of sorrow and loss, who transforms and renews the world around us and who is with us always in life, death and beyond. And so we can say with confidence:

The Lord is risen – he is risen indeed. Alleluia

______________________________________

Lloyd Geering – Heretic and Prophet  (Letter to The Post, 9 February 2026)

In 1967 Lloyd Geering (The Last New Zealand Heretic, p.A2, Feb 7) was tried for heresy by the Presbyterian Church and acquitted. He had written controversial articles on the Resurrection and Immortality of the Soul. In the title of a new book fellow theologian Jim Veitch poses the question as to whether Geering was a heretic or a prophet. In my view both words apply: “heretic” as one who regards Jesus as a sage rather than Son of God, but “prophet” as one whose lifetime work has been to delve deeply into the scriptures and rid the Bible of literalistic and fundamentalist interpretations.

Contemporary theology has developed broader concepts of God as mystery, spirit (wairua), or something bigger than ourselves – a cosmic belonging in all Creation. For the Christian the mystery becomes real in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Lloyd Geering has been a midwife of new thinking but Christian faith requires a deeper foundation in the person of Jesus.

Bishop Richard Randerson

 

The  Gospel reading: John 20

The Empty Tomb

1. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹ (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. ¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.  

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

³⁰ Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these 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.