exultemus

Tag: bible

  • Lord, teach us to pray

    This is the text of a sermon preached at St Tallanus Church, Talland, Cornwall on 27th July 2025

    St Tallanus Church, Talland

    Hosea 12-10 Colossians 26-15[16-19] Luke 111-13

    Lord, teach us to pray,

    When I was confirmed almost sixty years ago my parish priest gave me a little book,In His Presence– a sort of handbook of how to live a Christian life. It’s first instructions were about how to pray and to make prayer a central part of my discipleship. My prayers, it said, should follow the acronym,

    Adoration – love, adore and praise God

    Confession – we confess our sins and ask God’s forgiveness

    Thanksgiving – we give thanks to God for the blessings of our life

    Supplication – we pray for the needs of others or of ourselves

    ACTS, ACTS of worship

    Jesus here, in response to his disciples’ request, teaches his disciples what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. Although, this version, from Luke’s gospel is different to that found in Matthew’s gospel, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples does everything we need to do in prayer.

    It defines the relationship that we have with God. It stresses our need for God and all that he provides for us. It leads us to beg forgiveness and reminds us of our responsibility to be forgiving of others ourselves. It pleads with God to be present to save us from times of test and temptation.

    And now in a little more detail.

    Luke’s version begins with the single word Father. There’s no invocation such as Almighty God, Heavenly King, Lord of Creation nor anything else that stresses the greatness of God compared to our own insignificance. It’s a title of God which emphasises the closeness of our relationship with him.

    When Jesus tells us to pray, Father, he is reminding us, every time we pray that we are in a loving relationship with God. Matthew’s version Our Father in heaven puts a little distance between us and the Father – still the relationship but God is a heavenly Father.

    We know that Jesus spoke often of God as his Father, and that he even used the word Abba which is similar to daddy. So, we know that this form of address is all about the closeness and tenderness of the relationship.

    God is a god to whom we can take our concerns, our problems and our most intimate worries, and who is ready to listen and show us the love that can build us up and heal us.

    Father, may your name be held holy,

    we know that holiness is an attribute of God, and the very act of praying reveals that we already hold God to be holy. We’re not praying that we ourselves will hold God holy, but that God will be held universally to be holy.

    This prayer is surely about God being revered for who he is throughout the world, so this prayer is a prayer to make God known and therefore is a challenge to us, and a statement of our intention to make God known.

    Father, may your name be held holy,
    your kingdom come;

    When God is known he will be acknowledged as King; his kingdom will come.

    Those of us who know God as Father and hold him holy are already members of his kingdom. When God is universally held holy the kingdom will also be universally present.

    Father, may your name be held holy,
    your kingdom come;
    give us each day our daily bread,

    Now we pray for what we need to live, but also to be disciples of Jesus. Each day in Luke’s prayer is different to Matthew’s today or this day. We ask that God’s provision of our needs is renewed day after day. It is about a covenant relationship between us and God. We call on the relationship, and commit to making God known. We pray for the spread of the kingdom and ask God to sustain us – physically and spiritually.

    Father, may your name be held holy,
    your kingdom come;
    give us each day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is in debt to us

    we know that forgiveness can never be only something that we receive, but something that we must give too. Indeed, being forgiven is conditional upon us being forgiving. Showing forgiveness makes a huge difference in our world. It reveals the truth that resentment and vengeance are damaging to relationships and that forgiveness allows them to flourish. It heals our own relationships, but it heals the wounds in society too.

    Father, may your name be held holy,
    your kingdom come;
    give us each day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is in debt to us.
    And do not put us to the test.

    And finally, a prayer that we will not be put to the test, not tempted beyond what we can endure and resist. Luke is concerned, especially in his Acts of the Apostles, for those Christians who are not able to remain faithful and the prayer has Jesus telling us to pray not to be tested that we may remain faithful.

    The Lord’s prayer, as Luke records it (or, indeed, as Matthew records it), says all that needs to be said to reinforce and build up our relationship with God. It commits us to a deeply Christian way of living, and reminds us daily of God’s commitment to us.

    The Lord’s Prayer though is very much about our relationship with God. It’s all about getting that relationship right so that we can grow as faithful followers of the Christian way.

    What it doesn’t do is give a us a model for praying for others. However, it does make clear that we can take our needs and concerns to God, and that, because of the relationship we have with God, he is ready to hear and respond to those needs and concerns.

    If we are concerned about our neighbour who is housebound and lonely; if we are worried about our grandchild who is ill; if we’re anxious about our daughter’s difficult marriage; if we’re alarmed about the situation in Gaza; if anything at all, no matter how important or trivial it might be, we know that we can take those concerns to God in prayer and he is ready to hear us and will answer us – although how God answers prayer is whole other sermon.

    Lord, teach us to pray,

    When you pray, this is what to say:

    Father, may your name be held holy,
    your kingdom come;
    give us each day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is in debt to us.
    And do not put us to the test.

  • Choosing the Better Part

    This is the text of a sermon preached at the Church of St Wyllow, Lanteglos-by-Fowey on 20th July 2025

    St Wyllow’s Church, Lanteglos-by-Fowey, Cornwall

    Amos 81-12 Colossians 115-28 Luke 1038-42

    There is a legend about Martha and Mary that was popular in the Middle Ages. It tells how, after the resurrection Martha and her sister Mary travelled to France where they preached the gospel. The sisters went to a small town which was being troubled by a dragon. Martha manages to slay the dragon and in doing so the whole town is converted to Christianity. On the same trip Mary sets up a monastery in a remote area of wilderness.

    Martha is an activist and Mary a contemplative.

    We see much the same being played out in this morning’s gospel reading. There’s no dragon, of course, and no monastery either but Martha is the doer and Mary the listener.

    A first reading of this gospel story appears to show Mary as the one who is making a right choice and Martha is the one who misses the point, and makes a poor choice. We instinctively feel sympathy for Martha, having to do all the work while Mary just sits listening to what Jesus has to say. But, have we got that right? Is that what this story is about?

    Our gospels recently have been considering what it means to be a disciple. Two weeks ago we heard how Jesus sent out seventy disciples to proclaim the good news. Last week we heard the parable of the good Samaritan revealing what it means to love God and neighbour. And this story of Martha and Mary is also about discipleship – although that is not how it appears at first sight.

    As Jesus enters the village Martha welcomes him to her home. As you would with a guest she makes him comfortable and sets about preparing a meal. Mary meanwhile settles herself down at Jesus’ feet and listens attentively to what he has to say. When Martha complains that she is being left to do all the work Jesus answers,

    Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.

    All we are told about Mary here is that she sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. This description is typical of the disciple, the one who learns from the teacher. Mary is learning from Jesus in order that she might be active in witnessing.

    This is a theme in Luke’s gospel. We read about the disciple who builds his house on the solid foundations of rock, rather than sand and is praised (646-49). In the parable of the sower it is the seed that falls in the good soil that thrives and grows (815). Jesus speaks of his true family as being those who hear the word of God and do it (821). Jesus says, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it in response to the woman who shouts to him, Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked (1127-28).

    It is clearly the duty of the disciple to learn from Jesus and then to act. Here it is Mary who is doing that as she sits at the feet of Jesus. But Martha is acting. She has practical activities which show her devotion to Jesus.

    There is no criticism implied of Martha. She acts and acts well in serving the meal. She is showing hospitality and welcome. She is meeting Jesus’ physical need of refreshment. She is showing him kindness.

    However, Martha is being distracted by all the things she feels that she needs to do. She needs to consider what is best to do – to rush around setting the table, preparing food and drink or perhaps to spend time with her guest, talking and listening. That is what Jesus reminds Martha about. Her challenge from Jesus is to consider what is distracting her, what is keeping her from exercising her discipleship well. It’s about getting the priorities right.

    But, we do not hear the end of this story. What does Martha choose to do now. Does she go back to the kitchen, muttering under her breath that no-one helps her, that she has so much to do, while Mary just sits at Jesus’ feet, and Jesus only encourages her, and nobody understands her. Or, does she pour the wine, put the nuts and crisps on the table and settle down next to her sister?

    We meet Martha and Mary again – in John’s gospel. When Jesus raises Lazarus it is Martha who comes out to meet him, and chides him for delaying his journey until Lazarus has died, but expressing faith that Jesus could have saved her brother. And, when told that Lazarus will rise again and that Jesus is the resurrection and life professes her faith in Jesus, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into this world. Martha has a strong faith. She knows who Jesus truly is – perhaps better than Mary.

    And again a few days later when Mary pours the ointment on Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair, it is Martha who has prepared the meal and has waited on them.

    Martha has a deep and strong faith, and puts her trust in Jesus, but she is also one of life’s busy people. She is a doer, she is driven and an activist. Mary, on the other hand, is contemplative, a listener.

    These are the two sides of the coin of discipleship. Contemplation, reflection, putting ourselves in the presence of Christ in prayer, silence and stillness is important. It is a necessary part of being a follower of the Way. But on its own it is not enough.

    We also need to be active. Caring for the needy, feeding the hungry, campaigning for justice, healing the sick, making people whole.

    The one without the other is an empty, incomplete faith.

    This story reveals the importance of the contemplative life but it does not raise it above the active life in importance, because both are needed.

    If we read this story of Martha and Mary as a rejection of Martha’s way and a promotion of Mary’s way we misread it.

    Most of us are either, by nature reflective and contemplative or busy and active. And most of us will focus on the one more than the other. That’s OK. But if we get distracted by many things, or become so engrossed in contemplation, we miss the point.

    If our contemplation and reflection does not lead us into action. And our activity does not drive us to prayer and contemplation we will be poor disciples.

    God is calling us to both, just as Jesus called Martha to both in this short story.

  • Peace, But Not as the World Gives

    This is the text of a sermon which was preached at St Neot on the Sixth Sunday of Easter

    These were the readings Acts 169-15 Revelation 2110, 22-225 John 1423-29

    Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

    We saw a few weeks ago that Jesus greeted his disciples, on the day of his resurrection, in the upper room with the words, “Peace be with you.” He did it again the following week when Thomas was present with them. Paul greets the churches he writes to with the word “peace.” He does so in his letters to the Romans, both of his letters to the church in Corinth, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians; in fact every one of his letters begin with that greeting. It was a conventional greeting among the Jews of his time, just like our, “How are you?”, “I’m fine.”

    In today’s gospel Jesus changes what that greeting means as he says to his disciples, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

    What did it mean then? And, what does it mean now?

    When a Jew greeted a friend in the time of Jesus Peace be with you meant something very similar to How are you? It carried ideas of soundness of body, a hope that the person greeted is in good health, that all is well with them.

    But Jesus here extends its meaning, I do not give to you as the world gives. This is now not just a greeting, a way of initiating a conversation. It’s not just politeness. Now, it is about Christ’s gift to us.

    As always, we need to look carefully at the context in which Jesus offers this new gift to his disciples – and through them to us.

    This saying of Jesus occurs in that long discourse in John’s gospel which takes place at the last supper. The discourse is Jesus’ valedictory words to his disciples; it prepares them for what happens after his resurrection.

    There are three key sayings of Jesus up to this point in this discourse in John’s gospel,

    I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another that everyone will recognise you as my disciples.

    I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you know me you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.

    Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

    Like so much of what he says and does the disciples can only fully understand when they look back after his resurrection. But although Jesus must leave them they will not be alone, that was Jesus’ promise to them,

    The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.

    And,

    Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

    We have the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of Christ’s peace to make these sayings of Jesus not mere words but deep experiences for us in which these words of Jesus are truly fulfilled in our lives.

    The Holy Spirit will remind us and teach us all that we need to remember and know. (We’ll reflect more on this as we approach the feast of Pentecost in two weeks time.)

    The peace that Jesus gives is the very presence of God with us. It’s not the sort of peace that the world gives (an absence of conflict, noise and clamour), but a peace that only God can give. It is a peace which comes from our being the place where Jesus and the Father make their home. The peace which comes from having God dwelling in our hearts.

    This peace that God gives doesn’t simply wish us good health or wholeness – it makes us whole, it is healing, it is renewing, it forgives our sins, it puts us in a right relationship with God and with each other.

    When we share the peace in a few minutes we will be sharing the peace which God gives. It’s not just about wishing each other well it’s about healing our relationships and putting us right with each other – so that we can be right with God – as we read in the first letter of John (420b), whoever does not love the brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. So to be put right with God we need to be right with each other. The peace which God gives does that for us.

    God’s peace means that we can love one another, as Jesus commanded. It means that we can truly know God and Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. It means that we can become the place where God and Christ make their home.

    The peace which Jesus gives is a gift which transforms who we are, which makes us Christians and, most importantly, makes God present in the world through us. Each one of us.

    We are the dwelling place of God and of Jesus.

  • Making Sense of It All

    Having recently received the Bishop’s Permission to Officiate in the Diocese of Truro, and having a little more time on my hands, I thought that I should revive this blog. What follows is the text of a sermon I preached on the Second Sunday of Easter at The Church of St Neot, Cornwall.

    The readings for the day were, Acts 527-32 Revelation 14-8 John 2019-31

    Jabberwocky

    ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
    All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

    “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!T
    he jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
    Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
    The frumious Bandersnatch!”

    He took his vorpal sword in hand;
    Long time the manxome foe he sought—
    So rested he by the Tumtum tree
    And stood awhile in thought.

    And, as in uffish thought he stood,
    The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
    Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
    And burbled as it came!

    He took his vorpal sword in hand;
    Long time the manxome foe he sought—
    So rested he by the Tumtum tree
    And stood awhile in thought.

    One, two! One, two! And through and through
    The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
    He left it dead, and with its head
    He went galumphing back.

    “And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
    Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
    O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
    He chortled in his joy.

    ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
    All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

    I’m sure that many of you will recognize that poem from Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. Nonsense poems, of which this, Jabberwocky, is one of the most well known, were popular at the time of its writing. Many of the words are made up, not real words at all – brillig, vorpal, uffish, frumious, manxome. And yet when we read the poem we understand perfectly what is happening. The story, if not the words themselves, makes sense.

    Let’s turn our attention now away from Jabberwocky and to today’s gospel reading.

    This story, like almost all of the stories of Jesus following his resurrection has elements which make it appear at first sight to be nonsense. Here it’s the sudden appearance of Jesus, who the disciples know was dead two days ago, in a locked room.

    But to us it’s a familiar account which contributes to our understanding of who Jesus is and what God has done for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The first appearance recorded here, on the day of the resurrection, tells of Jesus coming to the disciples in the locked room and greeting them with the words, “Peace be with you” and showing them the marks of his crucifixion in his hands and side – the symbols of his suffering and death.

    He commissions them, “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” and breathes the Holy Spirit into them, giving them authority to forgive sins.

    The second appearance begins similarly. The disciples are again all locked away in the room and Jesus appears and greets them with the same words, “Peace be with you.”, but this time Thomas, who was absent the first time, is now with them.

    Thomas is the one who cannot believe what the others have told him, “Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.” To Thomas, what the others have told him is just nonsense. It is impossible that Jesus should be alive; it is not possible that he could just appear behind a locked door; it is absurd that he could have spoken with them, or said to them anything at all; he must be just a ghost, a figment of their grieving imaginations – not that Thomas believes in ghosts. It’s just a sort of mass hysteria.

    And on the second occasion, a week later, Jesus’ whole purpose in appearing would seem to be to draw Thomas in with the other disciples from doubting to believing. He needs to understand that their report is not nonsense. He wants Thomas to be able to make sense of what he has heard. And so he shows him the marks of the nails, he invites him to put his hand into his side. Thomas’s response is profound, “My Lord and my God!” as everything suddenly makes sense for him.

    What had seemed so much nonsense when his friends told him about the first appearance now makes perfect sense. Of course, Jesus is alive. He’d told them that he would rise again – and they hadn’t understood. He’d spoken about the three days – but they didn’t know what he was talking about. He’d prepared them for this moment: the moment when they see Jesus as Lord and God – for doubtful as Thomas had been it is Thomas who first sees the whole truth. His acclamation of Jesus as Lord and God makes sense of everything for the other disciples as well.

    All the things that Jesus had said, all the things that Jesus had done now make sense for Thomas, and not only for Thomas but for Peter and John and Mary Magdalene and the others as well. Everything has fallen into place.

    And, what is true for Thomas and the disciples is true for us too. This insight that Thomas has is what makes it all make sense for us too – and not just the resurrection itself, but everything that Jesus was doing during his life among us.

    If you read through John’s gospel – and if you never have I thoroughly recommend that you do – it is hard to make sense of all that is happening. There are all these lengthy discourses rather than the pithy parables of the other gospels. They’re clearly important but not always easy to make sense of. There are fewer miracles, but they seem more significant than in the other gospels. They’re clearly meant to teach us something, but we’re not quite sure what.

    It’s only when you get to this moment, in the twentieth chapter (and this is probably where John originally finished his gospel. Chapter 21 feels like a later addition, perhaps by John or a disciple), that everything really falls into place. As Thomas says, “My Lord and my God!” the whole of the gospel makes perfect sense.

    The wedding at Cana when Jesus turns water into wine – because he is the Son of God, having authority over all creation.

    Jesus throws the money changers and the pigeon sellers out of the Temple, because it is his Temple that is being defiled.

    Jesus’ long meeting and discussion with Nicodemus, where we learn that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son into the world, not to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved makes perfect sense when we realise that Jesus is God.

    The raising of Lazarus. Again we can only make sense of it because we know that Jesus is God, the Lord of life.

    And so on.

    Everything, read in the light of Thomas’s realisation that Jesus is Lord and God, makes perfect sense. It is the key to what God is doing in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.

    The world will say to us that this story is just so much nonsense. And they’re right – in a way – but so wrong too.

    It is when we have come to know that Jesus is our Lord and our God that we can truly understand these events.

    Without this knowledge, that Jesus is Lord and God, the whole story is as much nonsense as Jabberwocky. It makes no sense.

    When Thomas realises who Jesus truly is, he understands the whole truth about Jesus, about God and about himself.

    This is the moment too when all of the disciples finally come to understand who Jesus is. But the moment that we see and confess that Jesus is Lord and God is the moment when everything becomes clear to us. Of course Jesus is risen from the dead. Death cannot defeat God because God is true life! Jesus overcomes death because he is God!

    Unless we can see and proclaim with Thomas that Jesus is “Our Lord and our God!” the whole series of events that we celebrate at Easter are just a load of nonsense. They make no sense. It is impossible. It could not happen.

    Jesus’ response to Thomas’s exclamation is, “You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” is a blessing on us who believe, but is also a constant reminder to us that the resurrection only makes sense to those who see it through the eyes of faith.

    When we understand in the very depth of our being that Jesus is Lord and God we receive this blessing of Christ.

    That blessing is to be the ones who know that Jesus has defeated death and that, through his death and resurrection we share in his eternal life and are called to share our faith and bring hope and salvation to the world.

  • We have a decision to make

    We have a decision to make

    Depending on where you look the Pastoral Letter about the General Election from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has been both praised and criticised. The Daily Mail is excited that the Bishops have seen the light and abandoned trendy leftie causes. So a thumbs up from the Mail which is surely a bit of a worry in itself. In today’s Guardian there is an article gently chiding the Bishops for not being bold enough in their call to Christians to take their responsibilities seriously – Come on bishops, be bold. Promote some real Christian principles, because Anglicans are, according to YouGov, almost twice as likely to vote Conservative as Labour, which suggests that they haven’t quite got the hang of their own religion (Michele Hanson). And all this from an atheist. (more…)

  • My God, how wonderful thou art

    My God, how wonderful thou art

    This is the text of the final talk in a series of talks for Lent 2017 given in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Lufton

    John Newton, born in 1725, led an unpromising early life, pressed into the Royal Navy, captured and enslaved, he became the first mate and later captain aboard slave ships. During a serious illness in West Africa  he acknowledged his need of God and was converted. In time, not immediately, he renounced his former life, married his childhood sweetheart and after a time working in Liverpool as a tax collector sought ordination. It took him seven years, because of his life as a slaver and as a virtual pirate, to persuade a Bishop that he should be accepted and was eventually made perpetual curate of Olney in Buckinghamshire in 1764. He worked there for seventeen years until he moved to St Mary, Woolnoth in London, where there is a memorial to him.

    At Olney his assistant was William Cowper. Together they compiled a new hymn book, Olney Hymns, in 1779. The hymns were written not for the church services but for the prayer meeting. (more…)

  • As Pants the Hart for Cooling Streams

    As Pants the Hart for Cooling Streams

    This is the text of the first of a series of talks for Lent 2017, given in the the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul, Lufton

    I’ve entitled this series of talks Hymns and the Faith. In each of the talks we’ll look at one or more hymns to see what we can learn from them about the history of singing hymns in church, and also about what singing hymns can teach about God, about Jesus and about the teachings of the Christian faith.

    This first talk I’ve called As pants the hart. The hymn was published in 1696 in the New Version of the Psalms of David in Metre by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady. It is, of course, a metrical version of Psalm 42. The original version was much longer than the version we find in our modern hymn books which have only three verses from Tate and Brady’s hymn and a doxology added. (more…)

  • Sometimes reading the Bible is hard

    Sometimes reading the Bible is hard

    At Morning Prayer throughout November we have been reading the Book of Revelation. To be honest I can’t say that I’ve been enjoying it. Its world view, its philosophical assumptions, its literary style, its imagery are all so far removed from my own experience and understanding that I find it difficult to access and even to make sense of.

    I’m not alone. Throughout Christian history the place and authority of the Book of Revelation has been disputed. To this day some Eastern Churches do not include it in the canon of New Testament books. It is not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Churches, although it is read in Catholic and Protestant liturgies. Martin Luther, at the time of the Reformation called it neither apostolic nor prophetic, John Calvin wrote commentaries on every book of the New Testament – except Revelation. (more…)

  • Magnificat

    Magnificat

    The 15th August (the day that I’m writing this blog) is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Catholic Church it’s the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, in the Orthodox Churches it’s the Dormition (or Falling asleep) of Mary, but in the Church of England it is just the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

    There can be no doubt that the place of Mary in the piety of the church has been a bone of contention, especially between Catholics and Protestants, for centuries. Today, in the C of E some churches will call today the Assumption, others the Falling Asleep, others will probably ignore it altogether. (more…)

  • The Lord is risen indeed!

    At our celebration of the Eucharist on Easter Day we will hear, as we always do, the account from John’s gospel of the discovery of the empty tomb and a first encounter with the risen Lord (John 20.1-18). He tells how Mary goes early in the morning to complete, what the disciples could not complete because of the Sabbath, the burial ceremonies for Jesus, or perhaps she goes simply to spend a little time with her thoughts in the quiet of the early morning.

    John brilliantly gives us a sense of the panempty-tombic in Mary’s mind as, finding the stone rolled away and the tomb empty, Mary runs to find Simon Peter and tells him, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him. (more…)