1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,880 Welcome to Westminster Abbey's Lent and Easter reflections. 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,280 On Easter Day, we begin with the Gospel according to John, 3 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,200 chapter twenty, verses nineteen to twenty-eight. 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,080 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, 5 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:22,960 and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:28,880 Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 7 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:33,360 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,200 Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,840 Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. 10 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,600 As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,760 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 12 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:54,320 ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; 13 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,040 if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ 14 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:04,840 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 15 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,880 So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ 16 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:10,480 But he said to them, 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,480 ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, 18 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:19,920 and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ 19 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,960 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. 20 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:33,480 Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 21 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:38,920 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,600 Reach out your hand and put it in my side. 23 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,320 Do not doubt but believe.’ 24 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:50,560 Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 25 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,120 On Easter night, it is Thomas who needs the proof, 26 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:01,280 ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands…I will not believe.’ 27 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,960 Then, there before him, risen life stands before him, 28 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,600 the victory of God, Christ in grace and glory. 29 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:12,160 And Thomas believes. 30 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,960 We need to see as Thomas saw. 31 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:21,640 Why? Because we make the mistake of thinking that Christian faith is teaching, something to learn. 32 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:27,200 Christianity is not words and thoughts, but life and bodies. 33 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:32,920 Christian faith is not doctrine, it is the life and death of Christ. 34 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:37,840 When Thomas falls to his knees and says ‘My Lord and my God’ 35 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,360 he was looking at a man who was dead and who lives. 36 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:50,560 At Easter we see what Thomas saw and God would have us see, a human life and a human death. 37 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,960 To be a Christian is to recognise that all of life everything we do with our bodies, 38 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:03,600 including dying is inseparable from God and that, even in death, our God lives. 39 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:09,160 Easter is not piety, or proposition, or performance. 40 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:15,200 It is just life in its fulness, God’s life and ours. 41 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,960 O God in Jesus Christ you fell, 42 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,520 For love into the dark earth and died: 43 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,400 Give us grace to wait in patient hope and love 44 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,080 for the rich harvest you have promised, 45 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:34,360 that will blossom in our hearts with abundant life and love for all the world: 46 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,600 through Jesus Christ we pray who is the promise of your love 47 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,800 restored, renewed and multiplied. 48 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:44,160 Amen.