God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. His Word became flesh in the living, dying and rising of Jesus Christ, God’s human face. In response the Son gives himself to the Father and the Father is the Father because the Son, who has answered his call has given him his name. The Spirit enables creation to participate in this dynamic of giving and receiving.
Humanity is one of the languages which the persons of the Trinity use in communicating with one another. The Trinity is not some divine threesome but a union in which the persons call one other into being. They give themselves up to one another in the Spirit and in doing so each evokes in each what else would never come to be. The resurrection opens the door to a participation in this way of being fully human. “Say to my brethren that I ascend to my Father and now your Father and my God and now your God”.
The resurrection is a revelation of the life of God which was expressed on the first Easter Day but the resurrection is also the open door to a new creation in which we are called to participate in the life of the Trinity and to discover that life in all its fullness comes not as we hoard up ourselves and set our hopes of happiness on accumulating things but when in the power of his Spirit we give up ourselves to one another and so bring a new world of possibility into being.
This has been proved experimentally in the lives of the saints. Even to those of whom St Peter said “they did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.”
This keeping him company continues. God holds out the gift to us of life with him and he has started the work of building a holy people. The day of resurrection has dawned. It is accomplished. But the resurrection is also happening and the resurrection is full of future hope in a world where we have only just begun to learn how to speak the language of humanity as God intends.
The Rt Revd Richard Chartres, Bishop of London Sermon for Easter Day
He is a very well-read bishop, so we are very glad to have him.
