Sermon Preached at the Choral Eucharist on the First Sunday' after Easter, by the Rev. W. Robbins, M.A, "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord."
It is impossible for us to appreciate the mental attitude of the Twelve Disciples during the period between the Crucifixion and their actual realization of the Presence of the Risen Lord, because it was the result of something outside our experience. It was bereavement, but not only that, it was the loss of the one personality who had filled the whole of their lives, and with the Joss of Him went all their future hopes, and the jeers of the crowds around the Cross emphasized very bitterly the apparent waste of their three years of discipleship. So absolute was their despair that it prevented them from noticing. the fact of the empty sepulchre, and only the disciple whom Jesus loved when he went in and said the graveclothes folded and arranged, was to realize what it meant; and ven he seemed powerless to con-ince the others. Then Christ came and the revulsion of feeling was 0 tremendous that the fact burst like a flash of light into their souls, learing away all doubt and despair and producing an uprush of gladness they recognized the Christ whom they had lost, ""Gladness" also is used to connote the idea of a feeling of rightness Produced by the presence of God, as when David said:—"C was glad when they said unto me:—Let up to the House of the Lord" and surely that is its use here," It was the absence of Christ which had brought despair to the hearts of the disciples and had located their lives, and though He was near them, they could not see Him until He' forced Himself their attention, broke down their unbelief, and convinced them of the fact of' His resurrection and presence vith them, Then we read that they Were glad.
Now, there is an important truth here, one which is very simple and obvious and therefore often over looked, namely, that, to the diseiples of Christ, His presence alone can bring gladness, To some of the Twelve there were opportunities of various other activities in life after Christ had died, they could have entered into political and social life of their times, but they wanted Him, and without His presence they felt that nothing else existed, and, apart from Hin, life held no glad: ness for them, Now, though the word is colour. generally used to connote a spiritual "gladness" in Scripture is
emotion far different from those of cheerfulness or mere happiness, which are often the result of good health and strong digestion. "Tt sometimes suggests the iden of joy arising from the spiritual well-being, '4g when Christ told "ie Jews that Abraham rejoiced to sec his day, he saw it and was glad here ssu gesting it was He who appeared braham, and that those appear 3 evoked in the patriach's soul gladness which springs from ritual health, itself the result of obedience to God, So with ourselves, God has given many things to enjoy; a variety of interests lies before us, productive of joy, pleasure, interest, and happiness, but the only factor which can evoke that spontaneous emotion of the spirit which we call gladness i the presence of Christ and for us who profess to serve Him, what better opportunity can we have to meet Him than we have to-day as we come fo His Table? By faith to sense His presence, and once again to reassure ourselves of His resurrection and of His spiritual nearness, and so refresh ourselves with gladness because we have once again met with Christ.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.