Homily for Easter Sunday
The Exultet or the Easter Song tells us that this is the day when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave. Because in breaking the chains of death, Christ has broken the grip that death had on us also. Because of this day, Christians believe that suffering, pain, sorrow and mourning have lost their ultimate power. Christ himself stumbled painfully through the Bitter Valley. And he stands this day with us to greet the Easter dawn.
The real miracle of Easter is the manner in which the lives of the apostles had been transformed by the resurrection of the master. They had been the fulfillment of his own biblical prophesy: "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered." They had fallen asleep as he prayed alone in Gethsemane. The man he had chosen as leader denied any knowledge of him. At the end, they had fled from Calvary a broken and dejected group of people; their hero had died. The one on whom they had pinned their hopes for years had been executed as a criminal. They cowered behind closed doors of an upper room at Jerusalem, believing their own lives to be in danger. Then suddenly, in an instant, they are transformed into eloquent preachers, brave men and women for whom death held no fear. This surely, rather than the moved stone or the missing body, is the ultimate proof of the resurrection of the master. Something happened which convinced them he was still alive again. And it was not only a rational or an intellectual conviction: this conviction touched every core of their being, intellectually, emotionally, and morally. This conviction sent them out into the streets, intent on sharing this good news that Jesus their hero was still alive.
We can say very little about the nature of their experience. But they claimed that their transformation was brought about by the resurrection. That their transformation was miraculous there is no doubt. The eyes of faith will see the resurrection of the Lord at work. To this the apostles were witnesses, as Peter tells the house of Cornelius in our first reading today. One minute they are downcast and burdened with despair; the next minute they are confidently proclaiming the resurrection to all who are willing to listen to them. They are literally new men and women. All the gospel writers struggle to convey this mysterious reality: what happened to transform the lives of the followers of Jesus? Today we had read John's version: the empty tomb will convey the reality quite adequately as far as John is concerned. Peter sees and believes.
However, we do little justice to the Easter message by dismissing death as simply irrelevant because of the Easter event. Perhaps the vast majority of grieving people experience their suffering as meaningless waste. And of course much of it was. A good example of the challenge that death still poses was presented by the terrible Tsunami three months ago. But this is not the sum total of our experience. We also know that selfless love has suffering as a frequent companion. This seems to be a law of life as we experience it. The more intensely we love, the more intense will be the sorrow on parting. It seems to be the price demanded by our scheme of things. And this seems to be supremely so in the case of Jesus. His entire life, based utterly on selfless love, offers us a glimpse of the New Creation. It was inevitable that a life lived in such an intensely loving manner should have ended in such intense pain. Not even death could deter him from following the father's plan.
The Father's response to this obedient self-giving was to restore him to us as Lord and Saviour. The fact of death remains. The significance of the fact has been transformed. The believer can no longer view death as a mere life-quenching inheritance, the doubtful gift of an indifferent God. Our perspective has been broadened to include God in this divine-human equation. He has absorbed suffering and death into himself. Because of Jesus our suffering and death has acquired a divine dimension. Because of his death, they will acquire a divine conclusion. The problem has not been solved. But the mystery has been deepened and enriched. This is the reality we try to absorb during this Easter day and indeed through the entire Easter Season.