Luke 24:1-12 and John 20: 1-9

This Lent we have reflected on the gospels and have brought their words to life, each in our own unique way in the unique circumstances of our daily lives. Like passengers in conversation on a train, we have journeyed together for a while; we have looked again at the familiar and reminded ourselves that

We are loved and chosen by a God who is waiting for us with open arms.

God knows and accepts our strengths and weaknesses and, with our cooperation and always sensitive to our uniqueness, he will help us to reach our full potential.

God is to be trusted; he has given up everything for us.

I began this series of homilies with the child’s question “Are we home yet?” I ask it again today, knowing that the answer is – “Nearly, but not yet.” However, today’s gospel reminds us that we are close to home, closer that we might realise. Christ has risen and is in our midst. God is with us now.

The all-seeing, all powerful God is indeed all around and we have been reassured that where two or three are gathered in our midst there will Christ be found. However, he is closer than in our midst; the Lord lies within.

Where do we find Christ? We might take the wise counsel of the two men-angels at the tomb in Luke’s gospel and look among the living; we might look for evidence of the Risen Christ in us; in our words; in our actions. We might look for the Christ who showed tender mercy and loving concern, who gave so willingly of his time, who was there for people when they needed him. We might search for the Christ who laughed and cried with others, who remained with them through the good times ad the bad.

Let me help you to find signs of this Christ working in you and through you. Reflect back over the past week. Think about the following:

How many of you got out of bed this morning, as you do every morning, because someone else needed you to – you bring to others the Christ who makes sacrifices for them, who is always there for them.

How many of you took time to listen to a friend, or a child asking the hundredth “why?” or a family member with a long story to tell? You bring to others the listening Christ, the Christ who has time for us.

How many of you made a cup of tea for someone just at the right moment? Or produced a soft cushion, or a bag of sweets, or a hug? Through you others were able to glimpse a Christ full of tenderness and loving concern for us.

How many of you have spent a day with a friend or family member in pain – maybe sat beside them without saying much? You have given them a glimpse of the Christ who suffers with them, who stays with them in their pain.

How many of you spent time doing something for which you will receive no thanks, a load of washing and ironing, a quiet prayer for a special cause or an unknown stranger, a smile or a friendly hello attending to someone passing in the street, attending to a relative perhaps with Alzheimer’s who no longer recognises you. You gave others an experience of a Christ who loves us without expectation of the love being returned.

I could go on, . . . each apparently ordinary event is imbued with an extraordinary significance because the Risen Christ is present not just with us in the event but because Christ is present in each one of us. We bring - we have been chosen to bring - that Risen Christ to others

And so we have the paradox of our journey home to God; the God to whom we come home has already made his home in us. As Paul writes to the Ephesians: “you . . .are a place where God lives through his spirit Eph 2: 22 . . .Christ makes his home in your hearts Eph 3:17”

Wherever you experience yourself on the journey home to God, however far or near you may feel to God, be reassured; God’s promise has been fulfilled. God is with us and will always be with us. The Risen Christ is in our midst; the Risen Christ is in our hearts and is brought to others through our words and works. You are bringing the gospel home inside you. The good news – God’s love and desire to be with us made real and visible as the Risen Christ is within you and he will be with you . . .always.

Source: Down and Connor Family Ministry