Day 47 - Hallelujah, He is Risen - He is Risen Indeed, Hallelujah

Joy to you this Easter Sunday as believers around the world celebrate the momentous event in the life of the Founder of the Christian Faith – Resurrection.

This weekend I joined others on a pilgrimage around the North Nibley area of Gloucestershire at the invitation of Jill Stevens taking in the monument to William Tyndale. Tyndale the English translator who believed so passionately in the need for each individual to have direct access to the Living Word of God that he was prepared to die for this principle of reform. Following a joint churches’ sunrise service this morning on the hill where the Tyndale monument stands, I shall be driving to rejoice with the Hope Community Church, Bristol in a baptismal service for several folk celebrating their relationships with Jesus.

New Life in Christ is something to be joyful about but on that first Easter Sunday as the women approached the tomb where Jesus’s body had hastily been laid that Good Friday evening, I am sure that joy was not the emotion they felt: it was more likely to be great sadness and disbelief, maybe even tinged with a little bit of anger – emotions often associated with the death of a loved one. And, no doubt, there was even confusion that the Rabbi who had taught them so much, even promising life eternal to those who drank from the water He would give them, was now dead.

Tyndale’s life also ended but although his body has not yet known a resurrection, nevertheless his vision of having the Bible available in English has been revitalized by the power of God so today we do not simply have one version of the Bible in English but multiple translations. Those women at Jesus’ tomb could not have imagined the joy that was about to replace their sorrow as dawn broke but it would take the messengers to help them put the pieces in place - remember that in dark times emotions can be deceptive and cloud our faith in the Word of God to accomplish whatever purpose God sends It out for.

But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them ...

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words.

Luke 24

The message to those women, and to the men who came afterwards to double-check their story, was a joyful one and one that is ours today – the power of death has been destroyed by the Living Word that brought Life into being in the first place because “...the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not mastered it.” (John 1:5)

And for that reason we can shout “Hallelujah, He is Risen - He is Risen Indeed, Hallelujah.”

Elisabeth Sweeney Smith

CF President 2024-25