WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.960 It's just gone half past six, the sun is just about out and I'm in the garden. This 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:15.720 is not somewhere that I would normally be this time of day so why have I brought 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:24.679 you here? Well today it's Easter Sunday. This is my rather feeble attempt to bring 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:32.780 you to where it all started. You see we're in a garden, it's only just about light and 00:00:32.780 --> 00:00:42.980 I'm on my own. In the Bible we have four slightly different versions of the story 00:00:42.980 --> 00:00:49.340 of Easter morning, each one putting a slightly different slant on it. But they 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:55.880 all have a number of things in common. It was early in the morning, it was in the 00:00:55.880 --> 00:01:02.859 garden and the followers of Jesus were feeling very lonely and very afraid. Now 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:08.960 right now I know that a lot of people are feeling very lonely and very worried. Of 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:14.659 course there's nothing new about loneliness and anxiety but what's distinctive 00:01:14.659 --> 00:01:20.539 about this time in history is the sheer scale of the isolation. We're all on 00:01:20.539 --> 00:01:26.299 lockdown. This week one person told me that the thing they're finding hardest 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:32.299 about the lockdown thing is not quite knowing how to end phone calls. It's not 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:37.340 currently feasible to wrap up things by saying well I've got to go now because 00:01:37.340 --> 00:01:43.280 I've got to be somewhere in ten minutes. The same person incidentally and they're in 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:49.939 their mid-40s was telling me that in an unsettling reversal of their teenage years 00:01:49.939 --> 00:01:57.659 they're now yelling at their parents for going out. Seriously this is a time of 00:01:57.659 --> 00:02:07.520 unprecedented isolation and with it a profound sense of loneliness and fear in a 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:13.460 lot of people. Now for many many people the lockdown itself will mean that they're 00:02:13.460 --> 00:02:21.439 simply not seeing anyone. Some of us will be experiencing the isolation that 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:27.079 comes with either being in hospital ourselves right now or having a loved one 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:36.320 who is. And for some it will actually be the experience of being in confinement with 00:02:36.320 --> 00:02:44.160 others that brings acute loneliness and fear. The absence of space for social 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:50.720 interaction outside of the home means that all too many find themselves cooped up in 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:56.780 situations from which they desperately need to get out. According to the charity 00:02:56.780 --> 00:03:04.960 Refuge the National Domestic Abuse Helpline has seen a 25% increase in calls 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:13.379 and online requests for help since the lockdown began. Anyway back to this garden. 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:24.599 Easter is a time for joy and for celebration. Jesus is alive he's conquered death and holds out the 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:34.060 promise that an amazing eternity is in store. But if we're to understand any of that story properly 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:42.340 we need to remember that it all started with a profound sense of isolation and fear 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:52.340 in the garden. In John's Gospel the focus on Mary Magdalene shows her making her way 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:58.460 in the dark to an empty garden tomb. It's right there in that place of fear and 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:05.740 loneliness that she meets with the risen Jesus. Later in the evening of that same day we see 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:12.740 the disciples in isolation locked in through fear that they might face the same treatment as Jesus. 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:20.740 And again it's right there in that place of isolation and worry that Jesus meets with them. 00:04:20.740 --> 00:04:32.740 If you're feeling isolated lonely and afraid in any way at all today there's something important that I want you to know. 00:04:32.740 --> 00:04:38.740 It's in precisely that place that God wants to meet with you. 00:04:38.740 --> 00:04:49.740 He might not remove you from it straight away but he will certainly point you beyond it to the resurrection that is coming your way. 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:57.740 But there's one other part of this story that really stands out to me at this time. 00:04:57.740 --> 00:05:07.740 And it's when Mary recognises Jesus in his risen form. Notice what he says. He says, 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:18.740 Don't hold on to me. I don't think he was talking about social distancing. But what did he mean? 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:28.740 It's intriguing because later on in the same chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus specifically tells Doubting Thomas to touch him. 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:31.740 So what does he mean? 00:05:31.740 --> 00:05:36.740 Over the years theologians have come up with various explanations. 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:48.740 The one I find most engaging is that when Jesus spoke to Mary, he wasn't simply saying, Don't touch. Back away. 00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:53.740 But rather he was saying, Don't hold on to me. Don't cling. 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:54.740 Don't hold on to me. 00:05:54.740 --> 00:06:00.740 That's because the very next thing he says to her is go. Go and tell the others that I'm alive. 00:06:00.740 --> 00:06:08.740 In other words, Jesus met with her in her place of isolation and fear, but he didn't want her to stay there. 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:15.740 He wanted her to share that life transforming reality that she just experienced and not to keep it to herself. 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:27.740 Thomas, on the other hand, hadn't experienced that. He hadn't experienced the reality of Jesus's resurrection as Mary had. 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:32.740 I'm guessing he was also feeling pretty isolated and afraid. 00:06:32.740 --> 00:06:44.740 And so when Jesus orders him to touch his risen body, he does so because he simply wants him to know the peace that comes through believing. 00:06:44.740 --> 00:06:49.740 So both Mary and Thomas needed more faith. 00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:56.740 Mary needed to loosen her grip, whereas Thomas needed to strengthen his. 00:06:56.740 --> 00:07:05.740 The resurrected Christ gave both of them the faith they needed, pointing them beyond their place of isolation and fear. 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:13.740 If you're feeling isolated and afraid today, my prayer is that, 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:25.740 just like Mary and Thomas and all the other disciples, you will encounter the presence of the risen Jesus. 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:30.740 In the words of what I think may have been an old TV commercial, 00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:35.740 nobody goes further to bring you closer. 00:07:35.740 --> 00:07:42.740 tamper里 making an old podcast from a discovery of life according to a感謝 to Accessibility World. 00:07:42.740 --> 00:07:46.740 That's your walk olmazer in his own stر Ayee Mad cheek. 00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:48.740 The performance of as a reference to a Earlier Dream finish. 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:51.740 The announcement of the decision was 2 nivewide Cayw cross and buoyant and querinating what you do on a basis. 00:07:51.740 --> 00:07:54.740 The excitement of yesterday might just be something that's not considered deep enough to ask her. 00:07:54.740 --> 00:07:56.740 That you can deliver what I've done before this and thought of whatever usage of your break or something that might make them apart. 00:07:56.740 --> 00:08:02.740 Because of course my attention been more likely worked out all over a couple years ago.