The Collect for the First Sunday after Easter
Almighty Father, Who has given us Your only Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification ; Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve You in pureness of living and truth ; through the merits Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Epistle 1 St John 5:4-12
4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The Holy Gospel of St John 20:19-23
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St John’s first Epistle Chapter 5, Verses 4-12.
The Epistles of St John are not addressed to any one church in particular, and are thought, by many scholars, to be “general” epistles written by St John (in the late first Century AD) to be read in many different places within the Roman / Jewish world of the First and Second Century AD.
In the second half of the First Century AD there were false teachers harassing the young Christian Churches, teaching that the Lord Jesus was not a real man but a phantom, or spirit being, who only appeared as a man.
This belief of the Lord Jesus as a phantom, obviously drew on Classical Greek religious ideas that all physical matter was evil and that the pure spirit (and thought), was good. At birth the spirit dwelt inside matter and at death the spirit was liberated and returned to the ethereal realms to commune with other spirits.
Essentially matter was evil and spirit was good.
The Greek view of spirituality has given rise to the concept of life and death portrayed in many children's programs, such as the Roadrunner and the Coyote cartoons, in which the coyote fails in each one of his hare-brained schemes to catch the roadrunner, and is blown up, or plummets to the canyon floor below, after waving good-bye.
We then see the coyote floating up into the clouds playing a harp. This is pure Classical Greek thought and religion in which the “spirit" is separated from the evil body at death, and is then free to ascend to the ethereal realm.
This is the work of Satan, to substitute an erroneous theology for the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, so as to deceive children, and many adults, under the guise of humour.
The false ideas of Greek thought would give rise to full blown “Gnosticism” of the Second Century AD in which the important ingredient was “secret knowledge” which would only be revealed to initiated persons.
The Greek idea of theology could not accommodate a man who was the perfect union of flesh (evil matter) and spirit (good).
The Lord Jesus Christ claimed to be that unique person, Fully God and Fully Man.
It was His unique blend of Divine Nature, and True Humanity, that unlike all other men who were ever born, or ever will be born, that allowed the Lord Jesus to offer His Perfect Sinless Life as the True, Proper, and Right man, who had no original (inherited) sin or actual sin, upon the Cross, as our substitute, and so bear in His Holy Body the penalty for our sin.
This is the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God accepted His Holy Sacrifice, as proved by His raising the Lord Jesus from the dead.
All believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are forever clothed in the Holy Righteousness of the Lord Jesus, through faith in the Holy Gospel, and so are accounted Righteous before God.
Those believers accounted Righteous will be pronounced saved on the Great Day of God’s Holy Judgement.
This was the reason for St John’s urgency to write his First Epistle, to counter the corrupt message of the false teachers.
In this portion of his Epistle St John vigorously exhorted all Christian Believers to hold steadfast to their belief that the Lord “Jesus is the Son of God,” and He is the Victor who has overcome the world:
“4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
St John declares that it is through the Lord Jesus that any person can overcome the world provided that they “believe that Jesus is the Son of God,” and are therefore clothed, by Faith, in the Holy Righteousness of the Lord Jesus:
The repetition of the theme of overcoming the world shows us St John's urgency to emphasise the victory of the Lord Jesus over the world and sin, and in the absolute necessity for us to have faith that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God.
St John then further emphasised that the Lord Jesus was truly human as His Holy Blood was shed on the Cross and that His Holy Blood bore witness together with the witness of His Baptism (water), and finally the witness of the Holy Spirit descending on Him as a Dove, after His Baptism:
“6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”
This Triple Testimony bore sure and certain witness that the Lord Jesus was Truly God and Truly Man.
The True and Perfect Man is the one who came by Water and Blood and His Perfect Body bore the punishment for the sins of God’s Chosen People.
St Paul then declares that the Testimony of God is infinitely greater than human testimony
Human testimony was accepted by the people of St Paul’s time, so much greater and true, is the Testimony of God.
St Paul further stresses that whoever believes that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, accepts the Triple Testimony that God has given:
“9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.”
Whoever does not believe God’s Triple Testimony to His Beloved Son, declares that God is a liar.
This unbelief of God’s Testimony is an unthinkable insult to God and will attract the most severe punishment at the Great Judgement that will take place at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus.
St Paul gives us a crystal clear understanding of the temporal and spiritual position of believers in the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus, contrasted against the position of non-believers:
“11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Let us give thanks and praise to God for giving us the Triple witness of His Holy Spirit, the Water, and the Holy Blood, to the Divinity and Humanity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and for His Holy Righteousness that clothes us, and all believers, through the Holy Gospel.
May we always bear witness to the Lord Jesus as Truly God and Truly Perfect Man, the only person who was qualified to offer His Perfect Life in payment for the forgiveness of our sins.
May we also always thank God for the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus, which Mighty Work has secured our adoption as God’s Sons and Daughters. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St John Chapter 20, Verses 19-23.
St John opens this portion of his Holy Gospel with the account of the Lord Jesus’ miraculous appearing to His Disciples after His Resurrection.
The Disciples were gathered together in a locked room for fear of the Jews. They were full of fear and apprehension as their Master had been brutally killed, and they were seemingly left alone without leadership and hope:
“19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders.”
The Disciples were astonished at what happened next:
“Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”
The Lord Jesus suddenly appeared and stood among them and gave the greeting “Peace be with you.” The Disciples were naturally overjoyed to see their Master alive and reunited with them.
This appearance of the Lord Jesus gives us a glimpse of what our Glorified Resurrection Bodies will be like. We are told about our Heavenly dwelling place, and the nature of our Resurrection Bodies, in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians Chapter 3, Verses 20-21:
“20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
The Lord Jesus’ Glorified Body could pass through solid walls and appear at any given place at any time.
In our Glorified Resurrection Bodies we will have the same ability as the Lord Jesus.
What an exciting and marvellous existence made perfect by the fact that we will have no sickness or pain, and our Glorious Bodies will not age or wear out.
After their joyful reunion with their Beloved Master, the Lord Jesus gave His Disciples the Great Commission:
“21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
The Disciples were commissioned to preach the Good News of the Lord Jesus’ Victory over sin and death, and to proclaim God’s Forgiveness of sins in the Lord Jesus’ Name.
The Lord Jesus gave His Disciples a Special Gift to empower them in their Missionary Work. This Gift was the God’s pouring out upon them of the Holy Spirit, to guide them and provide comfort to them in perilous days that lay ahead of them:
“22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
It is argued by some scholars that the actual reception of the Holy Spirit did not take place until the day of Pentecost (celebrated now, by Christians, on the seventh Sunday after Easter Sunday and coinciding with the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, or Spring Harvest, Pentecost being the Greek name for the Festival).
This was the festival that was being celebrated by the Jews when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost.
These scholars see this breathing on the Disciples, by the Lord Jesus, as a solemn promise of what would be revealed on the Day of Pentecost.
Other scholars argue that the breathing on the Disciples was the actual giving of the Holy Spirit and the Day of Pentecost was the Confirmation, and the Revelation to the world, of the Holy Gift.
The Book of the Acts of the Apostles records the events of the Day of Pentecost in Chapter 2, Verses 1-40. We shall examine this event in greater detail five Sundays from now on Whitsunday (the celebration of the Day of Pentecost).
The Lord Jesus then declared to His Disciples:
“23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Some Christian Denominations use this text to support a Divine Authority, given to clergy, to forgive people’s sins.
This is absolutely not the case,
Only God can forgive sins, on the basis of what He has accomplished through Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The meaning here is that the Disciples (as a group, the Greek verb being plural) are given authority to pronounce God’s forgiveness to those who accept the Holy Gospel. They are the Lord Jesus’ Ambassadors.
The Greek verbs used to denote the forgiving of sins are in the perfect tense which gives the meaning “if you forgive anyone’s sins they are having already been forgiven and if you do not forgive them they are having already not been forgiven.”
The same Greek perfect tense is used in the Holy Gospel of St Matthew Chapter 16, Verse 19, when the Lord Jesus promises St Peter the “Keys of the Kingdom” and speaks of binding and loosing:
“19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
The proper translation of this verse should be :
‘I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, whatever you bind on earth will having been bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will having been loosed in Heaven.”
Those who reject the Gift of the Holy Gospel inevitably retain their sins and will perish on the Great day of Judgement, when the Lord Jesus returns at the end of the ages.
This Great Promise of God is recorded in the Holy Gospel of St John Chapter 16, Verses 13-15:
“13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Let us give thanks, daily, to God for the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for His Gift of His Mighty Holy Spirit, Who takes of the things of the Lord Jesus and shows them to us, and comforts us until the Lord Jesus comes again.
Come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen.
Bishop Ian