Easter Vigil Sermon by Father Gordon
04/20/10 09:09 PM
Easter Vigil
April 3, 2010
Luke 24:1-12
Anticipation of Joy
According to the calendar it is not yet April 4, the date of Easter this year. According to the calendar this is Saturday evening, and Easter always comes on a Sunday. So how come we are here in church singing Glory to God on high with gusto - as if it were already Easter and the sun was shining on the daffodils. Are we like children who have sneaked downstairs on Christmas Eve and opened our presents before it was really time? Have we had such a rigorous Lent that we just couldn’t hang for a few hours longer? Is it Easter already or not
And then there was the Gospel we just read, the story of the women at the tomb. They haven’t yet seen the Risen Lord. They have no vision of Jesus in some kind of radiant glory. As a matter of fact, these women are still terrified. All they have is an empty tomb, the strange announcement that Jesus is risen and the reminder of what Jesus had talked about – his own betrayal and death and “rising again”, whatever that might mean. So I ask you, is this an Easter story or not?
My answer is that, yes, this is Easter already. And, yes, the story of the women who are still afraid is an Easter story. It may even be the only kind of Easter story that can make sense to us. If we are going to experience Easter, it will probably happen like it happened to the women at the tomb. We also haven’t yet seen the Risen Lord in his glory. We are still here in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the midst of a recession and in the midst of a world that seems hell bent on going to hell. There is plenty for us to be afraid of. All we have tonight is the announcement given to the women and the reminder of what Jesus talked about – suffering, death, and rising again. Is that really enough to make Easter – that announcement and that reminder? Is that enough to conquer our fear? Is that enough to open up the tombs of our lives and to rob them of dread and despair?
We might as well face the fact that it is not enough to tell us exactly what happened back there 20 centuries ago. It is not enough to tell us how what happened did happen. It is not enough to satisfy our curiosity or our need to have everything figured and explained scientifically. It is not enough to make us understand what being raised from the dead really means or what it looks like.
But, yes, it is enough to create the hope and joy of Easter. It was, for example, enough to give the women courage to run from the tomb and share the announcement and the reminder with a frightened bunch of men. It was enough to turn those men into the apostles who spread the announcement and the reminder throughout the known world. It was enough to proclaim that nothing, not even death, could get rid of Jesus.
So let us listen once more to the announcement: He has been raised from the dead. Not even death could get rid of him. Let us listen once more to the reminder: “Remember how he told you, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Yes, suffering and death are part of life, but they do not have the last word. The last word is Life. Is that enough to create Easter hope and joy for us tonight? Is it enough to make us shout Alleluia? Let’s try it on for size right now.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
April 3, 2010
Luke 24:1-12
Anticipation of Joy
According to the calendar it is not yet April 4, the date of Easter this year. According to the calendar this is Saturday evening, and Easter always comes on a Sunday. So how come we are here in church singing Glory to God on high with gusto - as if it were already Easter and the sun was shining on the daffodils. Are we like children who have sneaked downstairs on Christmas Eve and opened our presents before it was really time? Have we had such a rigorous Lent that we just couldn’t hang for a few hours longer? Is it Easter already or not
And then there was the Gospel we just read, the story of the women at the tomb. They haven’t yet seen the Risen Lord. They have no vision of Jesus in some kind of radiant glory. As a matter of fact, these women are still terrified. All they have is an empty tomb, the strange announcement that Jesus is risen and the reminder of what Jesus had talked about – his own betrayal and death and “rising again”, whatever that might mean. So I ask you, is this an Easter story or not?
My answer is that, yes, this is Easter already. And, yes, the story of the women who are still afraid is an Easter story. It may even be the only kind of Easter story that can make sense to us. If we are going to experience Easter, it will probably happen like it happened to the women at the tomb. We also haven’t yet seen the Risen Lord in his glory. We are still here in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the midst of a recession and in the midst of a world that seems hell bent on going to hell. There is plenty for us to be afraid of. All we have tonight is the announcement given to the women and the reminder of what Jesus talked about – suffering, death, and rising again. Is that really enough to make Easter – that announcement and that reminder? Is that enough to conquer our fear? Is that enough to open up the tombs of our lives and to rob them of dread and despair?
We might as well face the fact that it is not enough to tell us exactly what happened back there 20 centuries ago. It is not enough to tell us how what happened did happen. It is not enough to satisfy our curiosity or our need to have everything figured and explained scientifically. It is not enough to make us understand what being raised from the dead really means or what it looks like.
But, yes, it is enough to create the hope and joy of Easter. It was, for example, enough to give the women courage to run from the tomb and share the announcement and the reminder with a frightened bunch of men. It was enough to turn those men into the apostles who spread the announcement and the reminder throughout the known world. It was enough to proclaim that nothing, not even death, could get rid of Jesus.
So let us listen once more to the announcement: He has been raised from the dead. Not even death could get rid of him. Let us listen once more to the reminder: “Remember how he told you, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Yes, suffering and death are part of life, but they do not have the last word. The last word is Life. Is that enough to create Easter hope and joy for us tonight? Is it enough to make us shout Alleluia? Let’s try it on for size right now.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.