Sermon for the Octave Day of Easter
“The same day at evening … came Jesus and stood in the midst”
There is something quite intriguing and compelling, I think, about the accounts of the Resurrection presented to us in the Gospels. They show us how the idea of the Resurrection takes hold of the minds of the disciples and, by extension, our minds. Such is the living power of the Resurrection for each and every generation.
Today is the Octave Day of Easter. It is as if time has stopped and we are still in the moment of the great mystery of God’s great redemptive act, the act of the Resurrection. It is the same day as last Sunday. It is as if the liturgy has not stopped but has continued. That is the meaning of an octave, just like in music, where the first note and the eighth note are the same note except for the upward progression through the scale.
And so here we are in the mystery of the day of Resurrection, but it is the evening. Jesus comes and stands in the midst of the disciples. They are in fear and they are behind closed doors. There is the surprise and wonder of Christ’s sudden appearance. There is the greater surprise and wonder, I think, about what Christ says and does here. At the heart of it all is Christ in their midst.
