Easter Sunday - The Resurrection of the Lord
(After reading this homily, tell us why YOU believe in the Resurrection? What does Easter mean for YOU? Post your comments at the end).
This has been an incredible Lent for me. From heart wrenching retreats to tough Lenten penances to the sheer exhaustion of hard work – this Lent has been a very fruitful journey. This morning, after the practice with the elect from the RCIA, after the practice with altar servers, and after taking meticulous care of the preparation for this celebration, I was hungry and exhausted. I went into my room, stood there for a minute, looked up and I said, “You better have risen from the dead!” Well humor aside, if Christ is not risen from the dead, then not just this lent, but my entire life thus far has been wasted; if Christ is not risen from the dead, then you are wasting your time here in this Church tonight; if Christ is not risen from the dead, these thirty-three RCIA elect have wasted a whole year in frivolous pursuit; if Christ is not risen from the dead, then every person that died and we buried last year, we better have given them a good farewell because we will never see them again. If Christ is not risen from the dead...
If Christ is not risen from the dead.... But could that be true? Surely, I cannot prove that Jesus rose from the dead. But history bears evidence to events of that first Easter morning. In the early years of Christianity, thousands of martyrs would rather die at the hands of persecutors rather than deny their faith in the risen Christ. Each of the eleven disciples sacrificed their life went far and wide in to the world with good news. Why would they do this for a dead man? Over the centuries, millions of people have made heroic sacrifices, chosen asceticism, missionary work, suffering, foreign lands, persecution, even death to bear witness to the risen Christ. Billions of people have not been able to resist the power of the risen Christ and have turned their lives over the Christ. People do not do such things for a lie – not for 2000 years. The fact that the Church has not only survived through dark times and leaders, but that it has produced holy men and women like Perpetua, Felicity, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, self-sacrificing heroes like Thomas Moore, Maxmillian Kolbe, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Sister Dorothy Stang and Mother Teresa, is a witness to the power of the resurrection. In faith, then, with two billion Christians all over the world, we too are here to celebrate the risen Jesus.
Three things for us to think about this Easter:
1. One of my students in religion class once asked me the question, “How can a dead person come back to life?” He was asking me about the resurrection of Jesus. I said to him, “Jesus rose from the dead, because human beings cannot kill God.” They killed God in human incarnation. God endured death but death cannot hold God for eternity. God is eternal... outside the realm of birth and death. So, if I believe that Jesus is indeed God... If I believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God... If I believe that Jesus is the God made flesh... then I have no choice but to believe in the resurrection. So today, once again, with whole hearted confidence, I acknowledge my faith in the risen Christ, and I invite you to do the same.
2. A little kid once asked me, “Why did they kill Jesus?” I could not give a satisfactory answer. This an adult question. And today I want to give the adult answer. By trying to kill Jesus we tried to make God a part of our story. We wanted to drag God into the muck of sin, misery and death. The best human beings could give to God was death. But God will have only so much of that. Easter is a celebration of a God who makes us part of God’s story. And God’s story ends in life. God also offers to us God’s best – life for eternity. Today, we bring our sins, our capacity for evil, our wrong choices, our death-destined existence and we lay it at the foot of the altar. In a few moments bread and wine will become the risen Christ. Let us exchange our story for God’s. Let us exchange death for life.
3. So, I have a question for you. Are you ready? Is God dead? Is Jesus alive? If you believe that God is indeed alive, that Christ is indeed risen from the dead, then let your life and mine proclaim that message. Like the disciples, we must live with the conviction that God is alive. We are an Alleluia people and our lives must bear witness to that! People will only believe the Jesus is risen if we set aside the culture of death and embrace the culture of life. People will only believe that Jesus is risen if we fly the banner of love instead of hate, peace instead of violence and war, justice instead of lies and infidelity, compassion instead of selfishness, forgiveness instead of resentment, and hope instead of despair. This is best way to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
Christ is risen indeed! Let the celebration begin! Alleluia! Amen
Fr. Satish Joseph
Tell us why YOU believe in the Resurrection? What does Easter mean for YOU? Post your comments now.