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EASTER VIGIL, Year C: April 4 2010

Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.

In various, particularly Renaissance, paintings depicting the Resurrection, the resurrected Jesus is depicted naked, with little more perhaps than a loincloth. In Michelangelo's sketch of the 'Risen Christ', however, Jesus is seen completely naked. John's Gospel is the only Gospel to focus on the linen wrappings and linen headcloth which have been discarded and left behind in the empty tomb. Now that Jesus has risen from the dead, it is no longer necessary for Him to cling to earthly constrictions or earthly garments. His resurrection body is a new body, a new nakedness which is confident and eternal. He is now unbruisable and unchainable. He cannot be boxed in to a tomb or nailed to a cross; He cannot be imprisoned by death, and the doors of hell have been flung away for ever. Mary Magdalene longs to touch the beautiful comely appearance of the naked Risen Christ.

Perhaps the words of the Song of Songs were ringing through the mind of Mary as she caught sight of her Lord again and as she recognized Him when He spoke her name to her. 'My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven [...] his legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold [...]'¹ says the bride in the Song of Songs.

But Christ cannot now be limited — Christ's risen glory shines forth to everyone, and especially, at the moment of this encounter, onto Mary. He persuades her, affirms her and empowers her to go and tell the others of the great news of hope that He has not gone away for ever. He entrusts her with the message of life and health and wholeness. Her vulnerability has been made powerful and strong.

At the Cross on Good Friday we saw the naked Christ, nailed and vulnerable and abandoned. In that moment of abandonment, we knelt and waited, resolutely gazing at His broken body. We sought refuge in those outstretched arms and found in them a promise of love, of mercy, of acceptance of who we are. At the feet of the crucified Saviour, we were at once restored, healed, made whole again. Our nakedness was covered with the blanket of God's love and our vulnerability was overshadowed by the divine nakedness. Our pain has been wiped away by the self-emptying of Jesus, in order for the light to burst forth again.

And this morning, as we gather bleary-eyed, we have seen and felt and heard and experienced the great joy of that light bursting forth.

No longer has death got any power over the Universal Man, or over us. The Man of Sorrows is now the King of Ages, the Beautiful Redeemer, the Saviour of the World, who stretches out His hand to pull us up to our feet, confident, strong and powerful. That great paradox of vulnerability and power has now been fully realized and understood. Our hearts are open to the light of Christ, we are open to the life which God has promised for us, we are glad and happy to look good naked in front of the Risen Christ.

In the words of Psalm 30:

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.

¹Song of Solomon, chapter 5