Matthew 28.5-8
Easter does not start with the Resurrection – its starts with emptiness. In every account of Easter Sunday we first encounter the empty tomb, not the risen Christ. It also does not start with joy – it starts with fear; the fear of the unknown, the puzzle of the missing body, the terrifying angels. It starts with tears: ‘They have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they have laid him’. There is nothing good. If the worst thing in the world is the absence of God and the absence of good, here it is. We have already seen evil as people mocked Jesus and shouted ‘Crucify!’, but this is worse. Emptiness, nothingness and hopelessness do not even offer a starting point for anything good to emerge. Emptiness kills hope and fear eliminates even any remnants of love, because where there is fear, there is no love. So here we have it – no love, no hope, just fear and emptiness. But, against all the odds, hope and love do come.
John 21.9-14
Hope is born precisely in the moment when it could not get any worse. Jesus could only be seen once the hopelessness of the empty tomb had been tasted. But when he is seen, he is not recognised visually but through his presence and his spirit. The disciples, having seen death and then emptiness with their own eyes, are now learning to see things beyond this world, using their hearts and not eyes – the same hearts that were burning within them as Jesus spoke with them on the road to Emmaus, the same hearts that now simply know it is Jesus who gives them food, whatever he looks like. They also know that the food he gives them is more than bread and fish. Suddenly, the abyss of fear and absence bears the most miraculous fruit of recognition beyond what is possible in this world. Having seen hell with their eyes, they now see heaven with their souls.
Matthew 28.16-20
It is tempting to think that after the Resurrection and the miraculous events that followed, earthly things did not matter anymore, but Jesus meets the disciples to give them a new commission here on earth. In their knowledge of things heavenly, the disciples are to continue their work among things earthly. They are to baptise with real water from the river but in the name of the Trinity. They are to be the link between heaven and earth, and their work is to be done under Christ’s authority, which is not only in heaven but also on earth. Having been crushed by earthly authority in this life, he now has all of it in his resurrected life. He does not abandon the disciples but is eternally present on earth as he is in heaven, even though from now on, he can only be seen if we look with our hearts and only once we have first seen emptiness. Amen.