Acts 10:34-43
Ps.118:1-2,14-24
I Cor 15:19-26
John 20:1-18
Easter Day C RCL
10:00 HE 2A
Credits: Former Dean Edward Todd,St.George's Coll., Jerusalem @ Clerical Club of Boston 12/17/85; L.W.Neeb, Road Back to God (Creative Commun. for the Parish, St.Louis MO 1995) p.31; more, P.4. Previous: 1986,1989,1995 (parts of each)
***********
IN THE MIDST OF DEATH ... LIFE
Those who have visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are often surprised that the place of the Crucifixion and the place of the burial of Jesus are within one building, so close to one another - even though the Scriptural account in John does say (19:42) that the tomb was near at hand.
We seem to want to have the place of the Resurrection at a distance, as if to have death and its place well out of the way. Only then can we think of resurrection.
And so often that is so: it takes a long time to get death into perspective, and finally to get on with a new life.
I. That is to say, we know that death comes into life, that in the midst of life we are in death. That confronts us all too often. But what we have trouble believing is, that in the midst of death we are in life. Yet that is part of the message of the tomb of Jesus: it was close by the place of His death. In the places in life where death seems to hold sway most clearly and most completely, there God is most active and most present and most powerful. Not only in physical death, but also in all of the deaths we must face on every level, emotional, mental, psychological: loss of health, loss of job, bullying in school - you name it - the place of resurrection is not only close to the place of death, but it is in the midst of it.
The astounding news of this day is that life can begin again. This news turns the world upside down. Since that announcement, "He is risen; He is not here (in the tomb)" was first made, death of every kind has been on the run.
So no longer is life a process of marking time towards death, but rather it is a countdown towards the greatest experience that life has to offer - the experience of reunion with God. You see, we are not simply natural beings of this earth with a spiritual nature added on. We are spiritual beings with a temporary home here. Our true home is with God. (Teilhard de Chardin).
II. On Easter Day, we do not need to dig very much more into the intellectual meanings or the results of the Resurrection. On this most holy day, let us rather dwell on the fact of it.
A. It is Christ who has risen. Not just spring weather or flowers, or new clothes, or good feeling. All those things help us to celebrate the feast, but they are not the essence of it. Easter is being celebrated today also in the southern hemisphere, where it is autumn, and everything is dying and hibernating and preparing for winter. In this, our northern hemisphere, new life is bursting forth in the world around us. Flowers are coming up. Spring fever is beginning. We feel good that winter is past. We may indeed have new- spring clothes. Easter eggs and bunnies and all the other things that help us to celebrate Easter - are all just that. They are helps. But it is Christ Who has risen: that is what Easter is about.
B. Furthermore, He has risen. He is not just remembered or thought about or pictured in our minds. We celebrate more than an idea or a hope or a wish. We celebrate a resurrection. We celebrate, not a resuscitation to life as we know it, but a transformation into an entirely new mode of existence. A transformation in which the very dust of our mortal body is glorified. The Resurrection takes place at the point of intersection between time and eternity, between this age and the age to come. There is no event in the history of the world which compares to Christ's Resurrection, for it proclaims the power of God at work in Jesus, to give meaning to human suffering, meaning which transcends this life and this world. It is an act of creation, as fundamental as the creation of the universe. Nothing less than a mighty, intrusive act of God is what we are proclaiming. The empty tomb is not simply God's triumph over sin and death, but God's victory for each one of us. Whatever tomb we have made for ourselves, can be for ever empty. Furthermore, Christ is not just remembered in thought or pictured in our minds. The tomb is empty so that our lives can be full. That is to say, Christ is risen indeed, not just in thought or fantasy, nor as a possibility hoped for, but really, truly and actually.
C. If the reality of the Resurrection possesses our hearts, the joy of Easter will automatically follow, and we can let this joy show itself in our faces, in our words and in our actions. When the Resurrection grasps you, churchgoing becomes a celebration of life, and joy knows no bounds. That joy is a powerful invitation to others, to be gathered into the same faith.
Let this good news fill your life today - let it rekindle love in your relationships, and enable you to live with joyful hope. AMEN.
More credits: The Living Church 3/26/89, pp.2,11 Our Church Times 3/26/89,p.1; Fuller,Preaching the Lectionary; Pulpit Resource 4/12/98,p.12; Prof.Norman Pittenger; Fr.Tony Jarvis in All Saints'Chronicle Lent 2010,p.10 (Dorchester, MA)