Bishop G. Kretschmar

Matthew 28, 1-10

In my life, there have been two Easter church services that have made a deep impression on me. One was decades ago in the Easter night in Jerusalem, directly at the holy grave, as Kyrill, the later Bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century, explained to his people waiting to be baptised, what the evangelist Matthew witnessed.

The other was a Tschernobyl memorial gathering on the 24^th of April 1990 held in a big sports stadium in Minsk. Despite the upheavel at that time, this gathering turned into a church service. The last of the many speakers was Metropolit Filaret of Minsk, who spoke for the first time in front of such a large public. He greeted the congregation with the old Easter greeting "Christ is risen", a greeting that the people had not heard for several years. The answer was somewhat hesitant, "He is truly arisen" from a corner came a protest but at the second greeting the resonance was greater and at the third, most of the congregation responded. Only God alone knows who were the true believers in that gathering, despite the majority of them joining in so loudly but they also joined in the fundamental creed of Christians and therefore in the Easter festivities. I see these experiences from both ends of the pole of the Easter service. The recalling of our origin, the ascending of Christ from the grave and the aspiration of faith in the three in one God, Jesus Christ, Gods son who was not left in death, but opened up the way to everlasting life and transcended all human possibilities.

The evangelist Matthew wants to keep us on this train of thought.

The four gospels tell in their own account of the wonder that happened at Easter. It continually tells of the way the witnesses learned to have faith through seeing and hearing. The first observers were women and their faith stemmed not from what they saw or heard but from the meeting with the arisen Jesus himself.

Matthew tells that the women met at the stone grave to bow before him and anoint his feet. He confirms the business of the angel. It is understandable that they rush to the disciples to tell them what has happened. St. Mark didn't know about this meeting and therefore, despite the empty grave and the angels message it is written that they were very frightened. "And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they anything to any man ; for they were afraid." Even in the St. Luke gospel, he talks about the women being confused and afraid. (Luke,24)

It is also totally unbelievable to us that a person can rise up from the dead. But this part of the story is not very clear. The gospels report of waking the dead. The youth from Nain lay in his coffin and was carried to his grave. Jesus called to him "Young man, I say unto thee, arise." He arose and was given back to his mother, who was a widow and relied on her son as her only assistant. Here, one could say, a body was brought back to life but of course, years later both mother and son will die, just as it happens to us all.

The resurrection of Jesus is quite different. He doesn't go back into that normal previous life, rather shows himself to his disciples and others as an emissary, like his brothers, Jacob and Saul. Jesus now pertains to everlasting life, where there is no more death. Many of the devout can expect to be called by God to rise up from their graves. With this word that brings hope and expectation, the gospels and the apostle Paul describe what happened. Resurrection. "He is not here, He for he is risen." The angel tells the women. There is and was no proof of resurrection through the empty grave, it only caused confusion and spread rumors. In Marks account, the women do not seem to see the empty grave, they do not go in, they only see the angel.

But the resurrection of Jesus means more than just one person being called to everlasting life. It is Gods assent to life and death of which he said at the baptism in Jordan "You are my beloved son, of whom I am well pleased."

The grave that emperor Constantine had hewn from the rock and the heavy stone that caused the women worry, was destroyed be the Persians in the year 614 as they overpowered Jerusalem. Today, the grave is a memorial but means today what Kyrill of Jerusalem said in front of the original monument, It stands as witness for the triumph of the son of God over death and the beginning of our completion.

I have told with my words what happened all that time ago but what did really happen? We have the different accounts of the gospels in which they narrate what the women told, passed on by word of mouth before the evangelists could take it and write it down. One can reconstruct some of it. It is not about whether the women saw one or two angels, or whether they went into the grave. When we ask what really happened we question the truth of the resurrection of Christ. We then need to take the next part of the text of what happened to the women "Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me." The truth of the resurrection of Jesus is not detachable from the Easter doctrine and this belief is not a private discovery of just a few but is the belief of the whole Church. Certainly, at the beginning the women are in the forefront. Easter is the women's day in the Church but the sisters have to communicate to their brothers. The Church stems from this community that witnessed the Easter story. The disciples become witnesses when they meet Jesus on the mountain in Galiliee, this being a symbol of God's revelations, similar to mount Sinai, where the law was proclaimed. It corresponds to the encounter with the resurrected and is not at first self revelationary. "See here, I live" in the middle of all this is a mission to the women to go to the disciples and give them the message.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ pushes against all our experiences and world view. It is a true belief. Certainly, this all hangs on the evidence of the first witnesses. It is about the belief of the Church and it is about my own belief. We all know that when Juri Gagarin flew in space, he did not see an angel, he told us that in detail. But maybe God sent a guardian angel with him to make sure he returned safely to earth. To see the truth, God must first open our eyes. An encounter with the resurrected is more than an encounter with an angel. But in my faith I know that He is risen, our God and saviour. Jesus is present in this certainty. Martin Luther taught us, faith is meeting with Jesus, it can suddenly be given to me or it can grow slowly and ripen. Maybe, as in Minsk nine years ago, the joining together in faith is so assured. But even in our faith today, that I experience, Christ has given me a mission. I am also called to be a witness of the wonder of the resurrection in our world.

Christ is risen! He is truly risen!

Prof. D. Dr. theol. Georg Kretschmar
Bischofskanzlei Petrikirche
Newski Pr. 22 - 24
191186 St. Petersburg/ Russia
Tel.: 007812-311-2423 // Fax: 007812-310-2625