A cold and broken Hallelujah


John 20:1-9

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’


So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.


It has been a great blessing to share the 'Hallelujah, Christ is Risen' welcome to the morning, not only with my 'far-away' friends but with the people I should be with for the Easter morning service. This, after all, is the reason for Lent's guiding, teaching, testing. This is the extra scene that you have to wait for, after the lights have gone down on the theatre of Holy Week, that makes it all worthwhile.

Knowing this, people of faith have outdone themselves this year. Services from the kitchen table, recorded on phones, emailed family liturgies, prayers podcast-ed and televised; the liturgical elements translated and transformed into our home life. So many resources, we could probably celebrate personal and familial Easters for years to come. But that is not what we want. We want our community back, we want to be together, we want 'normal'. We want to share our Hallelujah with a handshake or an embrace.

Across the world, we are still in the pre-dawn darkness of sorrow and anxiety. In some ways, it feels wrong to celebrate when so many are weary, so many are mourning. Are there not other priorities? The wonder of the Resurrection grates against the daily statistics of lives lost. Like the disciples, we are trying to support each other in a world turned upside-down, not knowing how to feel, how to act. Do they genuinely feel any better, seeing just an empty tomb or does this just raise even more questions, more inadequacies? I want to be the disciple who simply believes but like Mary I really just want to know where Jesus is, I want it explained and sorted. But that will take time. At least, for us, there is the gift of knowing the next part of this story.

We live in the light of the Resurrection and the gift that gives us is hope. Hope often manifests itself as perseverance. And that's the gift we need in abundance, to sustain us in these times, to bring us to the blessed tomorrow. Let's begin by celebrating today. '
Hallelujah, Christ is Risen' 

"Do not be afraid, do not yield to fear. This is the message of hope. 
It is addressed to us today. These are the words that God repeats to us this very night."
Pope Francis 2020

Do not abandon yourselves to despair. 
We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song. 
St Pope John Paul II

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