This takes us to the heart of John\u2019s extraordinary Easter message. The thing John celebrates in the resurrection and imminent ascension of the Lord Jesus is the restoration, and the transformation, of relationships. In this case, it\u2019s his relationship with Mary: as he speaks her name and she replies, \u2018Dear Rabbi\u2019, their relationship is restored; as he then commissions her to be what the Orthodox Church calls the apostle to the apostles, taking the good news of the resurrection to the other disciples, their relationship is transformed.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s clear from the errand entrusted to Mary that Jesus\u2019 relationships with those other disciples are also about to be restored and transformed. The Lord tells her, \u2018Go to my brothers\u2019. Do you know that\u2019s the first time in John\u2019s Gospel that Jesus has referred to them that way? Previously, Jesus has called them his servants, and even his friends. But his death and resurrection have so restored and transformed relationships that he now refers to his disciples as his brothers. Again, Jesus has spoken often in this gospel of \u2018the Father\u2019 and even of \u2018my Father\u2019. \u2018My Father and I are one\u2019 he said, \u2018My Father is still working and I am working\u2019. \u2018I have come in my Father\u2019s name\u2019. But right here is the first time in John\u2019s Gospel that Jesus has referred to God as \u2018your Father\u2019. Again, until this moment Jesus has never spoken of the Father as \u2018your God\u2019. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus, relationships are not just restored, but transformed: Jesus\u2019 God becomes \u2018our God\u2019, his Father becomes \u2018our Father\u2019.<\/p>\n
And sure enough in the rest of the gospel we will see Jesus\u2019 relationships with his brothers restored and transformed: restored, as he invites sceptical Thomas to see and even to touch his wounds; and transformed as he then commissions him, with the other disciples, in those words \u2018As the Father sent me so I send you\u2019; restored, as he gently asks Peter, three times over, \u2018Do you love me?\u2019 (once for each denial); and transformed as he then commissions him, equally gently, to feed his sheep (once for each denial).<\/p>\n
I must stop. You know, if it wasn\u2019t for the first Easter Day, no one would ever have dreamed of celebrating the Christmas. If it wasn\u2019t for the Lord\u2019s resurrection, there\u2019s no way we\u2019d celebrate his nativity.<\/p>\n
So why celebrate the resurrection? According to John, it\u2019s because in and it through it, we become brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus; in it and through it, we find that Jesus\u2019 God is our God, his Father is our Father. In it and through it, our relationships with the Living God are first restored and then transformed, as we first hear the Risen Lord calling us by name, and then hear him commissioning us to share the good news with others.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n @PeteWilcox1564<\/a> in the day of his installation as the 8th #BishopOfSheffield<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/0bskA08UDX<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 DioceseofSheffield (@DioceseofSheff) September 23, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n