Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Happy Easter, my friends, Happy Easter!
On this day, we celebrate the Good News of that historic moment nearly two thousand years ago that changed the world when Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty and discovered that Jesus had been raised. All four Gospel tell the story a little bit different, but they all agree on two facts: Mary Magdalene was there - sometimes by herself, sometimes with others – and the tomb was empty for Christ was alive. This was an event that showed that that Rome’s brutality – and let’s say it, evil – did not get the final word. It was a moment that showed that death did not get the final word.
But this celebration is not just about the past. This is not an anniversary celebration. Easter is a celebration of an ongoing reality. Did you notice in those opening words of the liturgy that they are in the present tense? Alleluia, Christ is risen, not Christ was risen. Our opening hymn put it a little bit more overtly: Jesus Christ is risen today. Last night at the Vigil, we sang a 400-year old hymn that began “Christ the Lord is risen again.” Our faith teaches us that Easter is not a one-and-done event, but a truth of the world. God is bringing up new life all around us.
Sadly, this is not just true of Easter. It is true of the Passion. Last week, we sang the old classic hymn Ah, holy Jesus, which explores who is responsible for the crucifixion, and the answer of the hymn is that I am. I, here in this present moment, am responsible. Good Friday is most certainly an ongoing reality. Crucifixion - literal and metaphorical - happens around the world and even here close to home. Sometimes it takes the form torture from brutal regimes; at other times it is summary execution in the streets by paramilitary forces. Sometimes it is the powers and principalities of this world declaring war. Good Friday can hit awfully close to home when the suffering is the pain we feel in our fragile bodies from illness. The Passion continues when relationships fall apart, or jobs are lost, or food is insecure, or we are under the threat of detention, or we or a loved one are incarcerated. The Passion is ongoing.
But, my friends, so is the resurrection, for Jesus Chris is risen today! God is doing amazing things: God is creating Good News that is begging to be shared. Our faith is not a faith of the past. Our faith is grounded in the past, for sure, but it is a faith lived in the present with an eye to the future. We have a faith that asks us to offer praise for - and even to join in with - all of the goodness of the Lord in this world. And we have a faith that asks us to look expectantly forward in hope.
This is the Easter life we are invited to live as followers of the Risen One. We must train our eyes to see the Good News; and we must to train our lips to speak it. We cannot give in to the forces of despair and nihilism that cry out to us. We are an Easter people; the tomb is empty. Remember, death does not get the final word, life does. The powers of evil and darkness do not get the final word, love and light do. Live this Easter life. Amen.
