It is Easter Sunday and I have been invited to join the Congregations of Fyfield at 8am and Appleshaw at 11am.

As the disciples, the ‘Twelve’ now reduced to eleven, plus the women, and others including Jesus’ mother, sat in shock and grief, observing the Sabbath, something was happening in the tomb.

Inside the tomb, the disciples expected that Jesus’ body was settling into death, becoming taught with rigor mortis, flesh beginning to rot. The tomb had been sealed, the women who had followed Joseph of Arimathea as he gently lay Jesus’ body in the new tomb, had witnessed this act of finality.

They knew this to be true, but couldn’t prove it.

The next day the women retraced their steps, this time with the spices that should have been used the day before to anoint Jesus’ body. They made their way with heavy steps, steps laden with grief, they expected to find the remains of a loved one, and proof of Jesus’ death.

When they arrived though, the tomb had been opened. They did not find Jesus’ body within the tomb. They found instead, two other men, so dazzling that they could only be angels, proclaiming that Jesus was in fact alive. At this point for the women, Jesus is both dead and alive; it is only when they enter into the tomb that they will discover for themselves which is true.

For the disciples who remained behind, Jesus is still dead. When the women return with the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection, they too encounter Schrodinger’s tomb: Jesus is both dead and alive, and until they too make their way to the tomb to see for themselves, they will not know which is true.

It is the same for us: the cave in which Jesus’ body was laid remains forever Schrodinger’s tomb. We have historical enough evidence for even atheist historians to believe that Jesus’ body was buried there, but we have only the women’s word to prove that Jesus has left the building: that he is indeed alive.

Unless we visit the tomb and see for ourselves, Jesus will be forever both dead and alive. The challenge for us this Easter, as it is every Easter, is whether we will be able to approach the metaphorical tomb to discover for ourselves whether Jesus remains dead and buried, or if he has risen, is alive, and seeks to bring ultimate life to us too.

You can read the story here.

Schrodinger famously created a philosophical in which a cat was placed in a box. Until the box was opened, nobody knew whether the cat was dead or alive, which meant that it could be either. Without this knowledge, until the box was opened, the cat was therefore both dead and alive.