Weekly Bible Notes, 20th April 2003
Easter Sunday
Year B
| First Reading: | Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14 |
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| Gospel Reading: | John 13:1-17, 31b-35 | |
| Commentary: | Resurrection | |
| Meditation | ||
| Prayers: | Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead |
Opening Verse of Scripture桺salm 118:14
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Collect Prayer for the Day桞efore we read we pray
Lord of all life and power, who through the mighty power of your Son overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in Him: grant that we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ, may reign with him in glory; to whom with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit be praise and honour, glory and might, now and in all eternity. Amen
First Bible Reading
Isaiah 25:6-9O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvellous things, things planned long ago. You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners' stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will honour you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine- the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God we trusted in him, and
he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad
in his salvation." The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain; but Moab
will be trampled under him as straw is trampled down in the manure.
(This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Gospel Reading John 13:1-17,
31b-35
慦hen the Gospel is announced -
Glory to Christ our Saviour?nbsp;
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. (This is the gospel of Christ. All: Praise to Christ our Lord)
Post Communion Prayer
God of Life, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the
death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection have delivered us from
the power of our enemy: grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may
evermore live with him in the joy of his risen life; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen
Commentary
Easter is an exciting time for children and adults alike! As the Spring comes with the possibility of longer, sunnier days, so nature responds with new flowers and new birth. God is everywhere in this creative rebirth, and we praise Him for His generosity to us.
We Christians recognise Spring as a powerful metaphor for the Resurrection which we celebrate upon this happiest of mornings. The transforming miracle of Jesus leaping from death and the tomb is repeated in smaller ways in a thousand small resurrections in the lives of people. God comes to them with His transforming power, healing the broken, offering companionship to the lonely, bringing hope and new life. Resurrection is offered to the people of God.
Spring is also an important metaphor because it reminds us that it has to be preceded by the dark time of winter. Sometimes we have to experience the darkness before we can truly appreciate the light, we need to feel the absence of God before we can properly feel His Presence.
Meditation
揋od卌an bring thee summer out of winter though thou have no spring. Though in the ways of fortune and misunderstanding, or conscience thou have been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, cloudy and eclipsed, damp and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as in the bud of spring, but as the sun at noon to banish all shadows??John Donne
Hymns (Mission Praise)
- Christ the Lord is risen today 76
- Led like a lamb to the slaughter 402
- Jesus Lives! 373
- Thine be the glory 689
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
O unfamiliar God, we seek you in the places you have already left and fail to see you even when you stand before us. Grant us so to recognise your strangeness that we need not cling to our familiar grief, but may be freed to proclaim resurrection in the name of Christ. Amen (Janet Morley)
O God who loves us, we offer this day into your keeping: our plans into your providence, our words into your silence, our activity into your stillness. Look upon us in your steadfast love and grant us you saving health, so that we help others and grow to wholeness in your praise. Amen
Listening God, closer to me than my nearest friend. Draw near to me, in trouble or need. Stay with me in health or sickness. Love me in joy or sorrow and bind me closer to you. And love me through each and every phase of life and beyond its end. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen
Today we rejoice in the salvation of the world. Christ is risen; let us arise in him! Christ enters new life; let us live in him ! Christ has come forth from the tomb; Let us shake off the fetters of evil ! The gates of hell are open, the powers of evil are overcome ! In Christ a new creation is coming to birth, Alleluia ! Lord make us new, Alleluia !
Grant that it may be our meat and drink to do the will of our Father who is in heaven. Grant unto us to take up whatever cross is laid upon us and gallantly and gladly to carry it. Grant that as we may share his cross, so we may share his crown; as we share his death, so we may share his life. And so grant that having suffered with him, we may also reign with him. This we ask for your love's sake. Amen.