Special Days in March 2024


 1st March:      Saint David’s Day

 On 1st March, Wales celebrates its patron saint, David - or, in Welsh, Dewi or Dafydd. He is revered wherever Welsh people have settled. As with most figures from the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ (he lived in the sixth century), reliable details about his life are scarce, but there are enough for us to form a picture of a formidably austere, disciplined and charismatic leader, who led the Church in Wales through turbulent years and fought tenaciously for the faith.

 He lived Ireland for a time and early records describe a meeting of Irish church leaders with three Britons, one of them called Bishop David. On moving to Wales he founded a monastery at Menevia, in Pembrokeshire. This became the site of St David’s Cathedral and the settlement which is now the smallest city in the United Kingdom. From Menevia David embarked on preaching and teaching missions across Wales. At a famous Synod of the Church, held at a Carmarthenshire village called Brefi (today Llandewi Brefi), he preached passionately against the Arian heresy.  

Daffodils David’s monks avoided wine and beer, drinking only   water. Indeed, he and they lived lives of rigorous   austerity and constant prayer, in the manner of the   Desert Fathers of the Eastern Church. The date of   David’s death is disputed - either 589 or 601. It wasn’t   until the 12th century that he was generally accepted   as the patron saint of Wales, and pilgrimages to St   David’s were highly regarded in the following   centuries - including two made by English kings,   William I and Henry II.

 It’s traditional for Welsh people to wear daffodils (or   leeks!) on St David’s Day although the origin for it is   not known.

                

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5th March:       Eusebius       

 Eusebius was born in Cremona, Italy, in the 5th Century and is not to be confused with others saints with a similar name! He was well educated and believed that Christianity should be an ascetic religion. On hearing that Saint Jerome also advocated an austere lifestyle, Eusebius travelled to Rome to meet him and they became life-long friends. At that time, Jerome was secretary to Pope Damasus who commissioned him to produce for the Western church a translation of the Bible in Latin.

 As Christianity was still growing there were different kinds of teachings and heresies, and disagreements were common. Eusebius was a loyal friend of Jerome and became involved in Jerome’s theological disputes.  

 Soon after the Pope’s death Jerome decided to leave for the Holy Land, and Eusebius begged to accompany him. At Antioch they were joined by two female friends of Jerome’s and together they made a pilgrimage to all the places connected with the earthly life of Jesus. Later, they decided to make their home in Bethlehem where Jerome continued with writing, studying, and overseeing a monastery.

 Jerome noticed that the vast number of pilgrims to Bethlehem were extremely poor, so he committed himself to building a hostel for them. Eusebius was asked to go to Croatia and Italy to raise money for the building project and sold his own property at Cremona to help with finances.

 Theological disputes continued and Eusebius is believed to have returned to Rome to convince Pope Anastasius I to condemn the writings of Origen. In 400 AD, Eusebius returned to his native Cremona but it is not known if he stayed there until his death or if he returned to Bethlehem to become the abbot and spiritual leader of the church there. 

Wherever Eusebius spent his last years, he continued to support Jerome’s interests and they regularly wrote to each other exchanging theological books and commentaries.  Eusebius died in 423 and it is thought he is buried alongside Jerome in Bethlehem.

 Eusebius lived at a time when understandings of Christianity were still developing. He was devoted to God’s word and sought to live following Christ’s humility and servanthood.

 

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10th March:      Mothering Sunday

 The honouring of mothers goes back to Roman times. In the Spring, there were pagan festivals to honour Cybele, Mother of all the Gods. Other celebrations paid tribute to Mother Earth. 

 From the Middle Ages, in England, it became traditional for outdoor labourers and craftsman to have a day off in Lent. Later, domestic servants were also given short leave to visit their mother and family. These brief holidays became an opportunity to go to church. This might have been their home church or their nearest cathedral. The Services at the ‘mother’ church symbolised the coming together of families. The term ‘Mothering Sunday’ dates from the 16th century. 

 ‘Mother's Day’ is a secular festival. It originated in 1908 after Anna Jarvis held a church memorial service for her mother in West Virginia, USA. She was a peace activist; a nurse for wounded soldiers in the American Civil War and founded Mother's Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. Anna wanted people to honour the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. Before she died Anna regretted the commercialism that followed and expressed that this was never her intention.

 Many mothers are mentioned in the Bible along with interesting stories about them. These include Eve, Hagar, Leah, Ruth and Bathsheba to mention only a few. A few times God enabled childless women to have a baby: Rachel, Rebekah, Manoah’s wife (unnamed) and Hannah who eventually gave birth to Joseph, Jacob, Samson and Samuel respectively. There was also Sarah, wife of Abraham, who aged 90 became the mother of Isaac.     MU Banner

 It is possible that these miraculous births were remembered by the Virgin Mary. She was certainly aware that her elderly relative was pregnant. These events foreshadowed angel Gabriel’s announcement that Mary was going to have a baby. Then added “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

 Mothering Sunday is celebrated on the Fourth Sunday in Lent and called ‘Mid-Lent’. It was also called ‘Refreshment Sunday’, when the rigors of Lent including the fast were relaxed for a day of family rejoicing. In some places the day was called Simnel Day, because of the sweet cakes called simnel cakes traditionally eaten on that day.

 In recent years Mothering Sunday resembles America’s Mother’s Day with families going out to Sunday lunch and generally making a fuss of their mother on the day. 

 

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 17th March:  St Patrick

 St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. If you’ve ever been in New York on St Patrick’s Day, you’d think he was the patron saint of New York as well... the flamboyant parade is full of American/Irish razzmatazz. 

 It’s all a far cry from the hard life of this 5th century humble Christian who became in time both bishop and apostle of Ireland. Patrick was born the son of a town councillor in the west of England, between the Severn and the Clyde. But as a young man he was captured by Irish pirates, kidnapped to Ireland, and reduced to slavery. He was made to tend his master’s herds.

 Desolate and despairing, Patrick turned to prayer. He found God was there for him, even in such desperate circumstances. He spent much time in prayer, and his faith grew and deepened, in contrast to his earlier years, when he “knew not the true God”. 

 Then, after six gruelling, lonely years he was told in a dream he would soon go to his own country. He either escaped or was freed, made his way to a port 200 miles away and eventually persuaded some sailors to take him with them away from Ireland. After various adventures in other lands, including near-starvation, Patrick landed on English soil at last, and returned to his family. But he was much changed. He had enjoyed his life of plenty before; now he wanted to devote the rest of his life to Christ. Patrick received some form of training for the priesthood, but not the higher education he really wanted.

 But by 435, well-educated or not, Patrick was badly needed. Palladius’ mission to the Irish had failed, and so the Pope sent Patrick back to the land of his slavery. He set up his See at Armagh and worked principally in the north. He urged the Irish to greater spirituality, set up a school, and made several missionary journeys. 

 Patrick’s writings are the first literature certainly identified from the British Church.  They reveal sincere simplicity and a deep pastoral care. He wanted to abolish paganism, idolatry, and was ready for imprisonment or death in the following of Christ. Patrick remains the most popular of the Irish saints. The principal cathedral of New York is dedicated to him, as, of course, is the Anglican cathedral of Dublin.

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19th March:    Joseph the Carpenter, descendant of King David

 Many people know that Joseph was the father of the most famous man who ever lived, but beyond that, we know very little about him. The Gospels name him as the ‘father’ of Jesus, while also asserting that the child was born of a virgin. Even if he wasn’t what we call the ‘biological’ father, it was important to them that he was a distant descendant of the great King David - a necessary qualification for the Messiah.

 It’s obvious that Joseph (usually described as a ‘carpenter’) was not wealthy, because he was allowed to offer the poor man’s sacrifice of two pigeons or turtle doves at the presentation of his infant son. No one expected eloquence or wisdom from this man’s son. Jesus was born into an unremarkable family, with a doubtless hard-working artisan as His father. There would have been few luxuries in that little home at Nazareth.

 Matthew begins his birth narrative with the bald statement that Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she became pregnant ‘with child from the Holy Spirit’. Joseph was not apparently privy to the divine intervention in her life, and so drew the obvious conclusion: it was another man’s child. However, he was not the sort of man who wished to disgrace her publicly, so he resolved to ‘dismiss her quietly’ - end their engagement without fuss, we might say.

However, at that point Joseph had a dream in which he was told by ‘an angel of the Lord’ not to hesitate to take Mary as his wife, because the child conceived in her was ‘from the Holy Spirit’, and that the baby was to be named ‘Jesus’ (‘saviour’) because He will ‘save His people from their sins’. On waking, Joseph did as he had been instructed and took Mary as his wife.

 So far as Joseph himself is concerned, we can be pretty sure of a few things. In human, legal terms he was the father of Jesus, he was a carpenter and he had probably died before Jesus began his public ministry. The little we are told suggests a devout, decent and sensitive man, one who shared Mary’s anxiety when the 12-year-old Jesus went missing in Jerusalem, and who presumably taught his son the trade of a carpenter.

 Joseph has become an icon of the working man - there are many churches nowadays dedicated to ‘Joseph the Worker.’ He can stand in the calendar of saints for the ’ordinary’ person, a straight-forward craftsman who never expected or chose to be in the spotlight of history. He did what he could, and he was obedient to everything that he believed God required of him. To do the ‘ordinary’ thing well, to be kind, caring and open to guidance: these are great gifts, and Joseph seems to have had them in abundance.

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 21st March:      Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury & Reformation                                         Martyr

 

If you have ever been caught up in a great event at work, which has gone on to change your own life, then Thomas Cranmer is the saint for you. He was the first ever Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, following King Henry VIII’s decision to pull away from Rome, and set up the Church of England (C of E).  

 Born in Nottingham in1489, Thomas Cranmer became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533. He was adviser to both Henry VIII and Edward VI. He helped Henry with the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and along with Thomas Cromwell, supported the principle of Royal Supremacy (where the king is sovereign over the Church in his realm).

 Under Edward VI, Thomas Cranmer made major reforms to the C of E. He put the English Bible into parish churches, compiled the first two versions of the Book of Common Prayer, and worked with continental reformers to change doctrine on everything from the Eucharist and veneration of saints.  

 But kings and queens, like American presidents, change, and the Catholic Queen Mary I was determined to wipe out Protestantism. Thomas Cranmer was imprisoned for two years, found guilty of heresy, and burned at the stake on 21st March 1556.

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24th March:      Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador

 Oscar Romero was a bit of a modern Thomas Becket – loyal to the authorities until he was given great responsibility for the Church. Then, like Becket, there was trouble. In Romero’s case, it all began when he was born Cuidad Barrios in El Salvador back in 1917. Devout from a young age, he was ordained in 1942, and became a parish priest in the diocese of San Miguel.   

 For 25 years Romero worked hard in his parish, where he was a traditional priest, very conservative, ascetic, and devoted to the Virgin Mary. In 1967 he was appointed Secretary to the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador. He was elevated to be Bishop of San Salvador and then Bishop of Santiago de Maria. An admirer of the conservative Opus Dei movement, Romero firmly opposed any liberation theology.

 Then in 1977 Oscar Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador. The Salvadorian government saw him as a safe pair of hands for the job. But they were in for a shock. For Romero’s new responsibilities made him look afresh at the relationship between Church and State in El Salvador. He did not like what he saw.  Romero saw that social unrest and poverty were the direct result of government repression, and even worse, that the Church played its part in the on-going violence of Salvadorian society. After the murder of several outspoken priests and then the expulsion of several allegedly Marxist Jesuits, Romero felt compelled to speak out.

 The right-wing Latin American governments were well used to priests who worked with the poor speaking out against them. But this was the first time that an Archbishop had raised his voice, and they were furious. But Romero became a champion of liberation theology. He condemned government violence and championed the right of the poor to economic and social justice. He even wrote a pastoral letter from the Salvadorian bishops, supporting proportionate counter-violence towards the oppressive right-wing regime. When, nonetheless, he also still tried to act as a mediator between the rival groups, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

 For several years Romero received death threats from both left- and right-wing paramilitary groups. Finally, while celebrating Mass, he was shot through the heart by a government assassin. It was 24th March 1980, and 40 more people died in the gunfire and explosions at his funeral. The Church worldwide mourned for him.

 

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What is Passion / Holy Week?                                 24th - 30th March

 The events of Easter took place over a week, traditionally called Passion Week.
It began on Palm Sunday. After all His teaching and healing, Jesus had built a following.

On the Sunday before He was to die, Jesus and His followers arrived at Jerusalem. The city was crowded. Jewish people were arriving to celebrate Passover. This commemorates how they had escaped from slavery in Egypt nearly 1,500 year earlier.

Jesus rode into the city on a young donkey. He was greeted like a conquering hero. Cheering crowds waved palm branches in tribute. He was hailed as the Messiah who had come to re-establish a Jewish kingdom.

The next day they returned to Jerusalem. Jesus went to the temple, the epicentre of the Jewish faith, and confronted money-changers and merchants who were ripping off the people. He overturned their tables and accused them of being thieves. The religious authorities were alarmed and feared how He was stirring up the crowds.

On the Tuesday, they challenged Jesus, questioning His authority. He answered by challenging and condemning their hypocrisy. Later that day Jesus spoke to His disciples about future times. He warned them about fake religious leaders; the coming destruction of Jerusalem; wars, earthquakes and famines; and how His followers would face persecution.

By midweek the Jewish religious leaders and elders were so angry with Jesus that they began plotting to arrest and kill Him. One of Jesus’ disciples, Judas, went to the chief priests and agreed to betray Him to them.

Jesus and the 12 disciples gathered on the Thursday evening to celebrate the Passover meal. This is known as the Last Supper. During the evening, Jesus initiated a ritual still marked by Christians – Holy Communion – which commemorates His death. Jesus broke bread and shared it and a cup of wine with His disciples.

Judas then left to meet the other plotters. Jesus continued to teach the others and then went outside into an olive grove to pray. He even prayed for all future believers. He agonised over what was to come but chose the way of obedience. The Bible book, Luke, records Him praying, ‘Father if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done’. Minutes later Judas arrived with soldiers and the chief priests and Jesus was arrested.

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24th March:   Palm Sunday, Jesus at the gates of Jerusalem

 Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, when the Church remembers how Jesus arrived at the gates of Jerusalem just a few days before the Passover was due to be held. He was the Messiah come to His own people in their capital city, and yet He came in humility, riding on a young   donkey, not in triumph, riding on a war-horse. Donkey 2

  As Jesus entered the city, the crowds gave Him a   rapturous welcome, throwing palm fronds into His   path. They knew His reputation as a healer, and   welcomed Him. But sadly, the welcome was short-   lived and shallow, for Jerusalem would soon reject   her Messiah, and put Him to death. On this day   churches worldwide will distribute little crosses made   from palm fronds in memory of Jesus’ arrival in
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                                        by Canon Paul Hardingham

 It must have been a dramatic sight on Palm Sunday when Jesus approached Jerusalem to the adulation of the crowds. The Bible tells us that ‘A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’’ ‘(Matthew 21:8,9).

 But not everyone in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus; in the very next verse we read, ‘the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”’ (10). But by the end of the week, the crowds had turned against Jesus and were demanding His crucifixion. (Matthew 27:22).

 Why did they turn against Jesus so quickly? Perhaps they were disappointed because He refused to fulfil their expectations in establishing a new political kingdom. Instead, He came to change our hearts and save us from our sins by His death and resurrection. As He said during that week, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ (John 18:36). This deeply disappointed those who hoped that He would throw out the hated Roman occupiers.

 Where would we have been on that first Palm Sunday? Among the disciples who welcomed Him or among the sceptical crowds? It’s easy to judge those who condemned Jesus, but would we have acted differently? We too can be disappointed when Jesus fails to meet our hopes and expectations of Him?

 The message of Easter is that God still loves and accepts us, and because of Jesus we can be forgiven. He came for one simple reason: ‘For Christ also suffered once for sins…to bring you to God.’ (1 Peter 3:18). May we welcome Jesus afresh into our lives this Eastertime.

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28th March:    Maundy Thursday, time to wash feet

 Maundy Thursday is famous for two things. The first is one of the final acts that Jesus did before His death: the washing of His own disciples’ feet (see John 13).  Jesus washed His disciples’ feet for a purpose: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” His disciples were to love through service, not domination, of one another.

 In Latin, the opening phrase of this sentence is ‘mandatum novum do vobis’. The word ‘mundy’ is thus a corruption of the Latin ‘mandatum’ (or command). The ceremony of the ‘washing of the feet’ of members of the congregation came to be an important part of the liturgy (regular worship) of the medieval church, symbolising the humility of the clergy, in obedience to the example of Christ.

 But Thursday was also important because it was on that night that Jesus first introduced the Lord’s Supper, or what we nowadays call Holy Communion.  

 Jesus and His close friends had met in a secret upper room to share the Passover meal together - for the last time. And there Jesus transformed the Passover into the Lord’s Supper, saying, ‘this is my body’ and ‘this is my blood’ as He, the Lamb of God, prepared to die for the sins of the whole world. John’s gospel makes it clear that the Last Supper took place the evening BEFORE the regular Passover meal, and that later Jesus died at the same time that the Passover lambs were killed. 

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29th March:    Good Friday: the day the Son of God died for you

 Good Friday is the day on which Jesus died on the cross. He was crucified at 9.00 am and died six hours later at 3.00 pm. It is the most solemn day in the Christian year and is widely marked by the removal of all decorations from churches. In Lutheran churches, the day was marked by the reading of the passion narrative in a gospel, a practice which lies behind the ‘passions’ composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750). Both the St Matthew Passion and the St John Passion have their origins in this observance of Good Friday. 

 The custom of observing a period of three hours’ devotion from 12 midday to 3.00 pm on Good Friday goes back to the 18th century. The ‘Three Hours of the Cross’ often take the form of an extended meditation on the ‘Seven Last Words from the Cross’, with periods of silence, prayer, or hymn-singing.Crucifix

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 29th March:    Good Friday: Jesus and the thieves on the Cross

 Luke’s account of the crucifixion (Luke 23:32-43) emphasises the mocking of the crowd, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself’ (35,37,39). In their view a Messiah does not hang on a cross and suffer. In considering the two men who were crucified with Jesus, we are also confronted with the issue of how Jesus secures salvation for us.

 The words of one of those crucified with Jesus reflected the crowd’s taunts: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us.’ He highlights the question of Jesus’ identity: how can He save others, when He cannot save Himself from death? He failed to see that the cross itself was the means of salvation.

 So - what kind of Messiah was Jesus?

 The other criminal’s response in his last moments is a moving expression of faith. When challenging the other man, he spoke of the utter injustice of the crucifixion: ‘this man has done nothing wrong.’ He perceived the truth that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. In a wonderful picture of grace, ‘remember me when You come into Your kingdom’, the second thief confessed his guilt and secured Jesus’ forgiveness and mercy.  

 In reply, Jesus promised the man life from the moment of death; ‘Today you will be with Me in paradise.’ Jesus used the picture of a walled garden to help the man understand His promise of protection and security in God’s love and acceptance eternally.

 Each one of us has to choose how we react to Jesus on the cross. Do we want Him to ‘remember’ us when He comes into His kingdom, or not? If you were to die tonight, how confident would you be of going to be with Jesus? ‘For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God’ (1 Peter 3:18).

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31st March:    EASTER Sunday

 Easter is the most joyful day of the year for Christians. Christ has died for our sins. We are forgiven. Christ has risen!  We are redeemed! We can look forward to an eternity in His joy! Hallelujah! 

 The Good News of Jesus Christ is a message so simple that you can explain it to someone in a few minutes. It is so profound that for the rest of their lives they will still be ‘growing’ in their Christian walk with God.

 Why does the date move around so much? Because the date of Passover moves around, and according to the biblical account, Easter is tied to the Passover. Passover celebrates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, and it lasts for seven days, from the middle of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which equates to late March or early April.

 Sir Isaac Newton was one of the first to use the Hebrew lunar calendar to come up with firm dates for the first Good Friday: Friday 7th April 30 AD or Friday 3rd April, 33 AD with Easter Day falling two days later. Modern scholars continue to think these two Fridays to be the most likely. 

 Most people will tell you that Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, which is broadly true. But the precise calculations are complicated and involve something called an ‘ecclesiastical full moon’, which is not the same as the moon in the sky. The earliest possible date for Easter in the West is 22nd March, which last fell in 1818. The latest is 25th April, which last happened in 1943. 

 Why the name, ‘Easter’? In almost every European language, the festival’s name comes from ‘Pesach’, the Hebrew word for Passover. The Germanic word ‘Easter’, however, seems to come from Eostre, a Saxon fertility goddess mentioned by the Venerable Bede.  He thought that the Saxons worshipped her in ‘Eostur month,’ but may have confused her with the classical dawn goddesses like Eos and Aurora, whose names mean ‘shining in the east’. So, Easter might have meant simply ‘beginning month’ – a good time for starting up again after a long winter.

 Finally, why Easter eggs? On one hand, they are an ancient symbol of birth in most European cultures. On the other hand, hens start laying regularly again each Spring.  Since eggs were forbidden during Lent, it’s easy to see how decorating and eating them became a practical way to celebrate Easter. 


Easter Garden

                     The 'Other’ Mary   

  As the traditional Easter story is   rehearsed again this month, you may   notice that there is one name that   frequently occurs. It is that of the   ‘other’ Mary – not the mother of Jesus,   but Mary Magdalene, who stood by her   at the cross and became the first   person to actually meet the risen Christ. 

 That’s quite a record for a woman who, the Gospels tell us, had been delivered by Jesus from ‘seven devils’ – New Testament language for some dark and horrible affliction of body, mind or spirit. As a result, her devotion to Him was total and her grief at His death overwhelming.

 In church history Mary Magdalene became the ‘fallen woman’ a harlot who was rescued and forgiven by Jesus but there is no evidence to prove she was a ‘fallen woman’ but the contrast is sublime, Mary the virgin mother, the symbol of purity. Mary Magdalene, the scarlet woman who was saved and forgiven, the symbol of redemption. Surely, we all fall somewhere between those two extremes.

 The dark cloud from which she was delivered may have been sexual, we are not told. What we do know is that the two Marys stood together at the cross, the Blessed Virgin and the woman rescued from who knows what darkness and despair.

 The second great moment for her was as unexpected as it was momentous. She had gone with other women to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty. An angelic figure told them that Jesus was not there, He had risen – and the others drifted off. But Mary stayed, reluctant to leave it like that. She became aware of a man nearby, whom she took to be the gardener. She explained to him that the body of ‘her Lord’ had been taken away and she didn’t know where to find Him. 

 The man simply said her name ‘Mary’ and she instantly realised it was Jesus. She made to hug Him, but He told her not to touch Him because His resurrection was not yet complete. She was, however, to go to the disciples and tell them she had met Him. She did – but they wouldn’t believe her.

 Her words – ‘I have seen the Lord’ – echo down the centuries, the very beating heart of the Christian gospel.

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                                     The empty tomb and the Risen Christ
                                                   by Ven John Barton

 ‘So they (the women) went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.’ 

 That’s how some early manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel finish. It’s an unexpected twist, when you consider the confident announcement at the outset: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Good news?  Afraid?

 Mark doesn’t embroider his writing. His Greek language is that of the street, and he uses short, abrupt sentences. So, he tells it straight when the women, who had remained faithful to Jesus right up to the end, were confronted with an empty grave, and the first intimation that Jesus was no longer dead. Nothing like this had ever happened. What had seemed like a tragic and inevitable finale was now flatly contradicted. These women had stumbled across something unique that God was doing. It was to be the beginning of a new era for the human race, encompassing past, present and future.  

 They were afraid. You bet. Matthew’s Gospel tells it slightly differently: ‘the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy.’  Later, when the other disciples encountered the Risen Christ, we read of their joy, doubt, disbelief, gladness, wonder. Luke encapsulates these confused emotions in a single phrase, ‘While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering…’ 

 After many weeks of what we summarise as ‘resurrection appearances’, Luke rounds off his account with Jesus blessing the disciples: “While He was blessing them, He withdrew from them and was          carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the Temple, blessing God.’

 A 21st Century disciple will contemplate the presence of the Risen Christ with wonder, adoration, and joy. Surely with trembling, too? The same Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father, will come again to judge the living and the dead.  

 Though hopelessly inadequate, we are enveloped by His sacrificial love, released by the crucifixion. We dare to look up, “afraid, yet filled with joy”.

Easter 2T

   












Jesus’ appearances after His Resurrection

The following list of witnesses may help you put all the Biblical references in order.

 Mary Magdalene                         Mark 16:9-11; John 20:10-18

Other women at the tomb            Matthew 28:8-10

Peter in Jerusalem                      Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5

The two travellers on the road      Mark 16:12,13

10 disciples behind closed doors  Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25

11 disciples with Thomas          John 20:26-31; 1 Corinthians 15:5

7 disciples while fishing                John 21:1-14

11 disciples on the mountain        Matthew 28:16-20

A crowd of 500                            1 Corinthians 15:6

Jesus’ brother – James                1 Corinthians 15:7

Those who saw the Ascension     Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:3-8


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