March 31, 2024
The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Easter Day – March 31, 2024
The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Acts 10:34-43; Mark 16:1-8
“Alleluia! Christ is risen!” (The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia.) I speak to you in the Name of God: Creator, Risen Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
A happy and blessed Easter to you all! Here we are: Easter Day; The Day of Resurrection and celebration throughout the universe! Love’s redeeming work, God’s redeeming work, is truly done. Christ … is … risen!
As we were reminded in our Good Friday services, when Jesus shouted from that cross, “It is finished” and those present wondered what is finished, I don’t believe anyone imagined what was about to happen. Who among them, who among us, would have thought Jesus would actually rise from physical death, rise and walk among us? Who imagined that God’s love could reach so deeply, even into the very bowels of hell in order to redeem everything and everyone? Who would have thought that God’s love could, or would even desire to reach so deeply within the human soul to confront those sins we desperately try to keep secret, and declare them forgiven not just then but forever? Who knew? When Jesus said, “it is finished,” many believed that what was finished was the dream of God’s kingdom being established on earth, the dream of new life marked by restored and holy relationships with God and neighbor. No one knew what Jesus meant because the world had never heard of Easter.
And yet, as affirmed over and again throughout scripture and human history, God’s very nature – God’s mercy, grace, and love – ensures that for every ending, there is always a new beginning. And Easter Day, proclaims how deep and transforming that new beginning truly is – a beginning made possible when Jesus walked out of that tomb and stepped into the lives and hearts of those gathered there; that day when, in stepping out of his tomb, Jesus invited all humanity, invited us, to step forth from our own tombs of despair, of death, of bewilderment, and embrace God’s way of life, step out in order to start over as a fully forgiven, redeemed and made whole creation.
The joy and impact of Easter is that in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead – his physical resurrection – we are invited to embrace and demonstrate that new way of living marked by God’s love, the same love that allowed Jesus to be sent to the cross and then raised him from the dead; God’s love that through a perversion of justice still redeemed all creation; God’s love now born into the hearts and minds of all who will believe. God’s love zaps away any fear of death and promises eternal life. God’s love promises to change how we think and live right now so that as God’s people we do love – friend and stranger – love, Jesus said, “As I have loved you.”
And yet, on this Easter morning 2024, many people wonder if that event from so long ago has any meaning or, more important, any impact on the world, any impact in and on us today? We know that the resurrection of Christ changed Peter’s life so deeply that, as we heard in our lesson from Acts, he, who at one time denied his Lord, became an outspoken advocate for Jesus’ teachings of inclusion and welcome. And we know, as Isaiah foretold, Easter’s triumph makes it possible to stand in humility before God with joyful thanksgiving as a restored and redeemed creation. We know that in Christ, we can be “at-one” (or atoned) with God and with our neighbor. Yet, the question remains does Easter impact our crazy world today? And if so, why doesn’t it seem like it?
I, too, have asked those questions. When I see what is happening around the world, the utter brutality of hatred and malice, the blatant inequality and injustice, not to mention rising religious extremism and political polarization that seeks to destroy any sense of one’s dignity and steal away hope, sometimes in the very Name of the risen Christ, I do wonder if Easter is the greatest story ever told, why does it seem so powerless today?
I believe the answer lies with us. The truth is many Christians – maybe most - tend to focus so much on what Easter, what the resurrection means to us as individuals, we think of it solely in terms of “being saved” and being forgiven, and miss the point of what Easter, what this new life, this new beginning in Christ, is all about. We can get so caught up in what we have been saved from that we ignore what we have been saved to. The Easter resurrection is not an ending to itself. It is a daily opportunity to begin again in our relationship with God and our neighbor. It is a call to recognize that in being washed clean from our sins, we are not only invited and welcomed, but fully capable of immersing ourselves so deeply in the very essence of God’s love that it permeates our whole being and shines forth from within us. Shines so brightly it changes whole neighborhoods. Easter invites us to love God and love our neighbor as deeply, consistently, and as compassionately as God, in Christ, has loved us. But the truth is almost two thousand years later we’re not there yet. We are still works in progress.
See, Easter witnesses to the power and promise of resurrection, the promise of new beginnings, of wholeness and mercy. Easter proclaims and recognizes that God did and continues to break through our sin and our pride in order to teach us not only how to be forgiven, but how to forgive, to not only be reconciled with God, but also, to reconcile our own selves with our neighbors. Easter proclaims that God can redeem anything and anyone that desires to be redeemed, that desires to change. And that gets to the heart of the world’s issue with Easter. It is why people ask if Easter really means anything.
The resurrection of Christ even with its proofs and promises of God’s love and mercy, means nothing unless we who claim it, dare to dream and embrace it, and are willing to let it change how we think, how we speak, how we live in this community, and the world. Is God’s work within our hearts and minds finished yet? No. But Christ is risen nonetheless. I know it because I see the risen Christ every day. You see, in spite of our own selves, in spite of those who claim to know Jesus intimately and yet despise everyone and anyone who thinks differently from them, in spite of my own, our own, shortcomings, Christ is still risen. “He is risen in the nursing home, our county jail and favorite local bar. He is risen in the homes of the undocumented alien, the gated estate and the trailer. He is risen in the streets of war-torn Gaza, Israel, the Middle East, the Ukraine, Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and in villages without a name. He is risen in the broken heart, the troubled mind, the homeless soul hiding beneath our bridges. He is risen in you and me, in our children, in those who once lived and those who have yet to be born”.[1] Jesus Christ is risen and that is what makes all the difference. In his rising from the dead, we, too, are risen to a new way of life marked by the mystery and uniqueness of God’s love: A love willing to die in order that we, and our neighbors, can begin to live as reconciled communities again.
What difference does Easter make? Easter demonstrates that God’s love can overcome any adversity, any barrier we might put in its path. As the Psalmist says, “On this day the Lord has acted.” And God continues to act in and through God’s people – people of resurrection, God’s people of hope, God’s people of indiscriminate and abounding forgiveness, love and mercy, people who love as Christ has loved us, if we so choose to embrace Easter in our hearts, our minds, and souls, and let Easter embrace us.
When we choose to accept God’s invitation to new life, we begin to become living proof of Easter’s continuing grace and meaning in this world. We are now ready for the transforming power and grace of the risen Christ to take hold so deeply and thoroughly within us, that everything we say, think and do, makes all the difference because God’s unconditional love and care has become the very essence and character of who we are. And when people see the risen Jesus Christ and the impact of Easter so clearly in us, they, too, will dare to step out of their tombs and join with us and all creation in proclaiming that greatest shout of all time, “Alleluia, Christ is risen.” (The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!) Thanks be to God! Amen.
[1] Paraphrase: Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw