Homily for Easter Sunday
The Exsultet or the Easter Song tells us that this is the day on which Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave. And we his people rejoice today not just for the sake of Christ, but also for ourselves. Because in breaking the chains of death, Christ has broken the grip that death had on us and on ours. Because of this day, suffering, pain, sorrow and mourning have lost their ultimate power. Christ has carried us on his back through the valley of darkness. And he stands now with us to greet the 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 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 fled from Calvary hill to lock themselves into the upper room at Jerusalem, believing their own lives to be in danger. Then suddenly 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. That something we call resurrection. Their hope, so cruelly ended on Calvary hill, is now revived and transformed into a vital driving force. They are literally new men. Yet, death as a cold fact has not been abolished. Death is a legacy we have all inherited. But its power over them and over us has been broken. And because its power has been broken, fear has been banished from their lives.
Jesus did not of course stumble towards death accidentally. His death could well be interpreted as the result of a series of unselfish choices, especially his decision to go up to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. That city had a bad name because of the way it dealt with men like Jesus down through history. He himself had called Jerusalem 'the graveyard of the prophets'. Several times he had signalled to his close companions that he would meet a violent death, but that new life would be the end result. The symbol he used to convey this reality was Baptism. Baptism was the doorway into this new life. 'Unless you are born again of water and the Holy Spirit you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven', he told Nichodemus. We have all been joined to Christ in baptism. It is fitting that these two little babies should be brought to the Church on this day, Easter Sunday, for Baptism so that they may serve as a reminder to this community of the commitment that Christian Baptism is. We will ritually express that commitment once more today when we all renew our baptismal promises.
Traditional theology expressed the Easter mystery in terms of all the baptised 'sharing in the fruits of the suffering of Jesus'. However, a more skeptical generation may judge such a view as simplistic and an underestimation of the destructive qualities of suffering. Many good and innocent people experienced their suffering as meaningless waste. And of course much of it is. A poor innocent woman going about her daily business in Baghdad is blown to pieces, or worse still, the child whose hand she is holding just vapourises beside her. It is impossible to see any good whatsoever coming out of such suffering.
However, this is not the sum total of our experience. We also know that selfless love has suffering as a frequent companion. 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. 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 the doubtful gift of an indifferent God. Because of Good Friday, we can now speak of the suffering and Death of God. God is no longer an indifferent figure in the skies. He is passionately involved in the lives of his people. He is beside them in their suffering and pain. Because of Easter Day, no human being will ever die alone again. God the Son suffered and died; God the Father suffered the loss of his Son. But the mystery has been deepened and enriched. This is the reality we try to absorb during this Easter vigil and indeed through the entire of the Easter Season.