Archbishop's Easter Sermon
The Metamorphosis of a Dragon FlySunday 24th April 2011
The Archbishop today gave his Easter Sermon at York Minster. Bible Readings: Jeremiah 31:1-6; Colossians 3:1-4; Matthew 28:1-10. The text from his sermon follows...“Don’t be afraid; I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:5-6).
There is in all people an irrepressible instinct struggling after immortality. For if our existence ends with the grave, what is the use? But what can be meant by “the resurrection of the body”. Reason leaves us perplexed. Cremations and science declare it impossible. Is there any analogy to sustain our understanding.
The witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ tell us that the resurrection is from the dead, and not from the grave; the basis of the spiritual body already exists, and that this is the body that is raised up.
There is a beautiful resurrection analogy in the life cycle of the Dragonfly. It gains its perfect form, by shedding the old body of the nymph. First a creature living out of sight, underwater, in the sediment of ponds or streams; waiting, sometimes for as long as four years, for conditions to be right for its final transformation. Then moving out of the depths, shedding its skin and leaving an empty shell (exuviae), and drying its delicate wings before taking off - a beautiful winged creature floating upon the air; one life, yet possessing from the first the potency of two forms.
This is shown visually in these pictures below.
The second reason for understanding the resurrection of Jesus Christ as rising from the dead and not the grave is this. The entire significance and value of the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead centre in the fact that it sets forth human identity.
The question now arises, in what does identity consist?
Man, Woman, Girl, Boy is not matter that makes up the perpetual flux known as the human frame; nothing that the chemist can put test to. This man/woman/boy/girl must be something, not material, that endures, on which the shifting phenomena of animal life play themselves out. He/She goes into the other world simply unclothed of decaying flesh, there to take on an environing body suited to his/her new conditions and dies no more. 
In fact the eye-witnesses to Jesus of Nazareth’s resurrection tell us that he walks and breaks bread with two men on the way to Emmaus, speaks to Mary, shows Thomas the wounds of his death, appears to more than 500 disciples, cooks breakfast; appears to the eleven disciples before being taken into heaven, appears to Saul on the road to Damascus
Once we accept the fact that Christ has been raised from the dead, it answers questions of supreme importance.
1. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Is he only the Son of Man, or is he also the Son of God? Through his resurrection I can say the Redeemer is Divine; he is Emmanuel – God with us; and I can look to him and say, “My Lord and my God!”
2. Is Jesus of Nazareth’s sacrifice accepted and sufficient to bring us back as reconciled children of God? The resurrection is the answer.
Because Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead “all who believe in him are set free and forgiven their sins which the Law of Moses could not do” (Acts 13:28-39).
3. What is God’s purpose concerning his redeemed? The resurrection of Jesus Christ furnishes every believer with a deathless hope – of a future life like the risen life of Jesus Christ. At present our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), but will be made known when Christ’s glory is fully revealed at the end of time (Colossians 3:4; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9).
So, “Come and see the place where the Lord lay”, that you may behold in it the certain and glorious pledge of a perfected salvation, on this, “the first day of the week.”
A day of mighty memoires:
- of the creation of the world;
- of the resurrection of Christ;
- of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
“Anyone in Christ: New Creation”. Made new, raised with Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit, but hidden with Christ in God the Father.
As his followers, may w
e make Christ visible: standing alongside all those whose lives are crushed by the heavy burden of financial pressures, unemployment, homelessness, poor housing, poverty and gender based violence; and all the missing: Madeleine McCann, Claudia Lawrence – to name just two. And not forgetting the indescribable brutality meted out to defenceless citizens of Zimbabwe by the evil regime of President Robert Mugabe, as well as those in Libya and Syria.
May we help to hasten the coming of God’s Kingdom of justice glimpsed in the Prophesy of Jeremiah as the Joyful Return of the Exiles: returning to God’s everlasting love and thereby renewing the whole face of the earth as returnees come from many nations across the earth, as the Lord gathers his scattered flock.
Beloved in Christ, Alleluia! Christ is Risen