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There is a famous painting by the 13th century Italian Renaissance painter, Giotto, of the scene outside the tomb where Mary Magdalene eventually recognizes the Risen Christ. Its title is ‘Do not touch me’ which takes its reference from St. John’s Gospel in which Jesus tells Mary not to touch him because he has not yet ascended to his Father. The meaning is really – ‘Do not hold on to me’ in the sense of her not clinging to him. He has yet to complete his work of resurrection by returning to heaven on the day of Ascension and in a sense this encounter is a break between the physical presence of Jesus which could only be known to those who were with him whilst on earth, and the spiritual presence through which he is accessible to all – including, of course, ourselves.
No such ban was given to the women who meet the Risen Christ in St. Matthew’s account – which we have just heard as our Gospel for today. After the stupendous experience of finding the tomb empty and the angel of God giving them the message of the Resurrection the two women are met by Jesus who greets them. There is little doubt that, though in his Risen body, they recognized him for immediately they took hold of his feet.
As one of the women is Mary Magdalene it may be difficult for us to square the two accounts of Matthew and John but the thing about the Gospel is that each of the four writers offer us different insights of the Resurrection appearances of Jesus. All are writing for different faith communities and there are bound to be some inconsistency but the overall picture that Jesus who was crucified has Risen from the dead is the central point of all New Testament teaching about the Resurrection. The women, in Matthew, are described as having left the empty tomb full of fear – and this should be understood as ‘awe’ rather than trepidation – what they had witnessed was truly awesome and alongside awe, there was joy – or elation. They had come to the tomb empty-handed. They had not come to do anything except what we most naturally do when a loved one has died – visiting the grave.
When we do that, we are not expecting something miraculous to happen and certainly we are not expecting to find the grave burst open and an angel sitting there! We are simply going to the grave as a focus for our grief and mourning – and so it was with these two women. What greeted them was therefore amazing and actually beyond comprehension.
First there was an earthquake which is often regarded as the drum-roll of a supernatural event – as, when in Matthew’s Account, the earth shook as Jesus died on the Cross. This is quickly followed by the vision of an angel descending from heaven who rolled back the stone covering the tomb and sat on it. There is something rather decisive about the angel’s action – as if to say – ‘well, we won’t be needing that any more’. Then he delivers his message which is the announcement of our Lord’s Resurrection.
It is not without significance that both at the beginning of our Lord’s life – when Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and Joseph had a dream in which an angel assured him that it was safe to take Mary as his wife – and now at the end – angels play an important role. This role includes a reminder to us that Jesus, whilst truly one of us in his humanity is also Divine – of God. The part played by angels in Old and New Testament times is perhaps lost on us who have grown rather sceptical about them which is a pity because God’s creation is not confined to this planet nor even the Universe. The heavens too are of God’s making.
The women recognized that they were caught up in what we might call a supernatural event but what might also be a reminder that we are part of something bigger. Belief and Christian faith teaches us that our earthly life is but part of a greater life and that our destiny, if we truly believe in and love God, is to be caught up into the heavenly realms – into the eternal life and love of God – which is, of course, a major consequence of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – who in his death and life opens for us the way to God’s loving, eternal heart.
The women schooled by Jesus in his teaching and example of godliness would have immediately seen in the angel’s presence that God was acting as only God can. This is reinforced by the angel’s message. They left the tomb, no longer grieving, but joyful and when, moments later, they are met by the Risen Lord who greets them, they naturally ran forward to touch him – as we might greet an old friend with whom we share some intimacy. They recognized him for who he was – Jesus their beloved companion and friend with whom they had a real relationship which was natural and easy – their action of simply running forward to greet him tells us that despite the amazing thing that has just happened at the tomb, it is his presence which dispels all fear and confirms their joy – yet they also did something which was to move things on a bit and which was to give those who believe in the Risen Lord because of their testimony and witness – ourselves included – a model for approaching the Resurrected Jesus – our Risen Lord. They fell at his feet and worshipped him.
Since the time of the disciples the way to ‘touch’ Jesus is through worship because it is in worship that Jesus Christ touches us. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the Eucharist. At the heart of this act of worship we move forward to the altar and we kneel to receive either the sacrament of bread and wine which has been prayed over and therefore infused with our Lord’s real and spiritual presence, or we receive his blessing. Both these actions involve touch. And in both cases we are ourselves touched by him.
He comes to us just as surely as he came to those women near the tomb and he greets us with the assurance of his love for us. This is why the Eucharist is so central a part of Christian worship and, of course, it is the way that Jesus himself chose to be with us until that day when he gathers us up to himself in heaven.
This is no man-made invention . It is a deliberate act of our Lord to ensure that he is always accessible to us. The Eucharist is his ‘touching place’ where he slips into our lives afresh every time we come to him and fall at his feet in love and friendship and worship. That is also why the Eucharist has been seen as an extension of our Lord’s resurrection appearances. He will always appear to us in this way.
In a beautiful little book Rule for a New Brother, designed for religious communities, including communities of faith and fellowship in the Lord like ours – there is a meditation on the importance of breaking bread with the Lord which ends with these words:
The Eucharist sets you on the way of Christ.
It takes you into his redeeming death
and gives you a share in the most radical deliverance possible.
And already the light of the resurrection,
the new creation, is streaming through it from beyond.
Whenever you sit at table with the risen Lord,
it is the first day of the week, very early in the morning
In other words each Eucharist takes us to the heart of the Resurrection. We are here this morning to be with our Risen Lord.
Of course, this has consequences because as our Lord touches us and fills us with resurrection joy and hope so our worship must spill over into our daily life. We have to constantly learn to live as Easter people who carry around inside ourselves the knowledge that Jesus Christ our Lord is with us. This means that as we have been touched by Christ so we must touch the lives of others with his radical and transforming love.
I have told the story before of a girl who went to Calcutta to work alongside Mother Teresa and her sisters but I will remind you of it again. Mother Teresa sent her out into the streets to search for Christ in the destitute and poor and try to touch them with his love. After several hours, the young woman returned radiant with joy.
Mother, she told Teresa, I have been touching Christ. I found a beggar lying in a ditch with festering open wounds which crawled with maggots – and I bathed his wounds and I knew I was touching Christ.
It is a beautiful illustration of what is asked of those who have been touched by Christ.
We may not do anything quite so dramatic but out there are many who are wounded, unloved and hurting – all needing the touch of the Risen Lord to heal them. We are that touch if we really are children of the Resurrection. And not only those whose lives have met with adversity. We are also to touch all we meet with the changing transforming love of Christ – and that also includes each other. There are no exceptions. We can’t pick and choose. We certainly can’t judge who might be worthy of Christ’s love and who might not. We are all God’s children and each of us has been touched by the Risen Lord. If he touches us with his radiant resurrection love then he does so not only for our own sake but also to enlist us in his work of drawing all into his Gospel net of the redeemed.
At the beginning of Lent when the Cross was traced in ash on our foreheads, we say some thrilling words – Christ claims you for his own. They are the same words we use at Baptism. Through his Cross and in his Resurrection Christ claims us as his own. Like the women in today’s Gospel we belong to him in the most intimate way possible and as he sent them to tell the good news to his brothers in Galilee, so he sends us out into the streets of Epping. We are his Easter disciples sent on his errand of love to the world. If Easter love touches your hearts then go and touch others in the name of your Risen Lord.
O Lord, you are king of our spirits and Lord of our lives.
You have enlisted us to do a great work
of touching others with your Resurrection love.
As we know that love in our own hearts
so send us to show others by word and example
that you are ever present in our world,
changing, transforming and loving all into your Father’s eternal Kingdom.
Send us on that errand now
and may we know the power of your love at work in our own lives,
for we are your Easter people and Alleluia is our song.
Amen.