In the Gospel lesson for Easter, Saint John told us that when he saw the empty tomb he believed, that it was the fact of the resurrection that convinced him that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, not the Holy Scriptures. "For as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead."(John 20:9). And this shows us the pattern of our faith. No one becomes a believer through the mere reading of the Bible. We might read the Bible as a historical document, we might study it as an example of an ancient philosophical system, we might be drawn to it out of curiosity, but unless we first believe in the empty tomb, the written word of God will fall on deaf ears.

           So today, the Octave Day of Easter, as we come together once again to celebrate the fact of the resurrection, we begin to look at the Holy Scriptures with new eyes, and hear the Word with newly opened ears, and we can begin, as did those first disciples, to understand what the prophecies of the Old Testament truly meant, and to begin to comprehend the richness and completeness of God's word written.

           The collect for today recalls the words of Saint Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth. He said "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." We pray that God will help us get rid of the leaven, the yeast of sin that, if allowed to remain within us will invade and corrupt our whole beings. We pray for purity and the removal of corruption. But Paul's imagery rings other bells in our memories too because he is also recalling for us the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, when Pharaoh finally allowed the Hebrews to leave Egypt. They left in haste, not even taking time to allow their bread to rise. Hence that great event in history has always been commemorated by the eating of flat bread, without yeast, as a reminder that freedom must be taken quickly, with no delay. And of course, since the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, we Christians understand that the Passover was a type, or prophecy of that event: as the first born sons of the Egyptians died so that Israel could have freedom, so the only begotten Son of God died so that all people could be freed from the bonds of sin and death. Before Jesus, the Passover was remembered only as an important event in the History of Israel. After his death and resurrection its true meaning became apparent.

           So too with the prophesies of Ezekiel and Isaiah, today's lessons for morning prayer. The dry, dead bones of Israel are raised up and brought to life as the New Israel. Not as a restored kingdom in Palestine with a new King David though as people had expected, but as the heavenly kingdom of God that transcends all creation, with the breath of God breathed into it. Isaiah speaks of the Comfort God offers his people in raising them out of the pit- resurrection, salvation from destruction. This comfort of course comes through the Holy Spirit--the Comforter.

           In today's Epistle lesson Saint John reminds us that there are three witnesses to the truth: the water, the blood, and the Spirit. Looking back to the Old covenant, we can see their types in the water of the great flood, the blood shed at the Passover, and the Spirit of God breathed into the dry bones. Seeing them with our new eyes, from the perspective of the empty tomb of Jesus, we see that the water and the blood that flowed from our Lord=s side on the cross were signs of the sacraments of the church, made real by the Spirit. And again, in the Gospel, Jesus appeared to the twelve and showed them his wounds whence came the blood and the water, and he breathed on them, and said "receive the Holy Spirit" They believed because they saw Jesus and through that belief they understood the signs of the past for what they truly were, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God, the comforter.

           We have not seen the empty tomb as Mary and John did, nor have we seen the risen Lord and the marks on his hands and feet, and side as the first disciples did, but their witness to the facts speaks to us. We believe because of their testimony, and the Holy Spirit present in us shows us that their testimony is true.

           The sacramental waters of baptism, the blood of Christ in the sacrament of the altar, and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives, continually profess the divine love that God has for us, and we now know the truth of Scripture.

           Christ has risen and broken the bonds of slavery for us and freed us. We must now rise and take hold of the gift of freedom, divinely offered, without delay. We mustn't let the leaven of malice and wickedness grow in us, rather we must leave them behind, and washed with the holy waters of baptism, feast on the unleavened body of Christ, and so be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, to whom with the Father and the Son be glory for ever and ever, Amen.