Readings: Easter Sunday

[one_full last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]

Gospel for Easter Sunday

John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward 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. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; *

his mercy endures for ever.

2 Let Israel now proclaim, *

“His mercy endures for ever.”

14 The Lord is my strength and my song, *

and he has become my salvation.

15 There is a sound of exultation and victory *

in the tents of the righteous:

16 “The right hand of the Lord has triumphed! *

the right hand of the Lord is exalted!

the right hand of the Lord has triumphed!”

17 I shall not die, but live, *

and declare the works of the Lord.

It is believed in the church that the Lord was sent by the Father to make atonement for the human race . . . It is quite true that we would all have perished if the Lord had not come into the world, but . . . this was not a matter of retributive justice, since that is not a divine attribute. Justice, love, mercy, and goodness are divine attributes, and God is justice itself, love itself, mercy itself, and goodness itself. Further, where we find these we find no vindictiveness and therefore no retributive justice. (The Lord §18:1)

… sins can be taken away from us only by active repentance—that is, by our seeing our sins, begging the Lord for help, and desisting from them. (The Lord §17:3)[/fusion_text][/one_full]