Homily for
the Easter Vigil 2018
The Angel
said, “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He has risen,
He is not here. See here is the place where they laid Him. But you must go and
tell His disciples and Peter: He is going before you to Galilee;
it is there you will see Him, just as He told you.” Mk. 16:8
We have
arrived at the place of fulfilment.
We have
arrived at the place where all our longing, all our desiring falls away.
We have
arrived at the moment of Resurrection, not just of Christ, but through Him and
with Him and in Him, a resurrection of all that is.
Long lost
in self, long lost in despair, long lost in death we had felt the coldness of a
life that seems to have no meaning, no essence, no hope…
we had felt
the darkness of a wintered night without and even more so within…
we know
what the long night of sin has done to us…
it has worn
us down…
it has
shamed us…
it has
taken from us all that we hoped for…
as sin
always does…
since the
garden we have known its false promises and since the garden we have thought
them real, only to stumble and fall again and again…
And yet for
thousands of years we have hoped for deliverance, for freedom, for restoration…
We have
been promised such in the proclamations of prophet and in the whispers of
patriarchs, in the songs of the holy women and in the innocence of children we
have seen another way, we have been recalled to righteousness, we have been
invited again and again into covenant…
and we have
heard that it is possible that the God who is Love never abandons His creation.
Never abandons His people, never abandons you, never abandons me…
And He has
promised…
he has
declared that not only will He be Emmanuel, the God with Us, but He will be Jesus,
the One who saves us from our sins. How? By facing down our darkness. He who is
light will descend into the darkness of our sin. God from God, Light from
Light, true God from True God; the everlasting Word of the Father will descend,
will empty Himself and descend into the very bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh… this is how much He loves us…
He will
become us and in becoming us He will face our darkness, consume our sin, heal
our wounds…
He will be
our sacrifice, the only sacrifice acceptable to the Father for in His humanity
He will descend to heal us and in His divinity He will raise us up to our
eternal home in the very heart of the communion of Love that we call God…
Yes He will
descend and in descending touch the darkness, touch the despair, touch the sin,
touch the misery of our selfishness and for just a moment, for just a seeming
moment seem to be consumed. He will touch death, death on a cross. He will
touch your death, all that is dead in you, all that is dead in me…
just for a
moment…
they touch…
they
embrace…
they kiss…
and from
the darkened Golgotha sky the source of life
and light breathes out his Spirit over the chaos we have caused…
And then…
and then He
conquers!
Darkness is
overcome by Light
Death is
overcome by Life
Despair is
overcome by Hope
Love… Love…Love
conquers
all!
He is
Risen!
Alleluia!
He is
Risen!
This is the
heart of existence, the heart of the story of creation, this is what it is all
about and always was and will be about…
He descends
and in that universal moment of Resurrection I am raised too, you are raised
too, and crackling along the great faultline of history forwards and backwards
into the world of the dead and the world of those yet to come all feel that
great earthquake of power as death is conquered, the gates of hell are broken and
the lamb reveals himself as the Lion of Judah
and He goes
before us…
listen to
the words of the Angel…
He goes
before us…
We will see
Him there just as He told us…
He goes
before us…
the One who
was foretold through the ages…
the One who
emptied Himself of Divine Glory so as to become one with us…
goes before
us…
The One who
suffered and died and rose again goes before us…
He goes
before me…
He goes
before you…
Do you know
what that means?
It is the
great Easter secret…
from now on
there is never a moment in your life or in my life, never a joy, a suffering, a
place, or a time where He is not already there, waiting for you to arrive and
be present to Him so that He may pour out love and light and power upon you…
The resurrection is not just a moment in history it is happening now…
in this
moment and in every moment we will ever face!
Our choice
tonight and in each moment is to liberate His power in us, to allow Him to be
the God He is who waits until we allow Him in… until we become present to Him…
Otherwise
we miss it… we can be like the disciples who hear the word of hope and power
and dismiss it… it can’t be we think! I had my plans and they failed… I had my
hopes and they failed… I know who I am and I am a failure…
So I will
dismiss the easter message tonight and descend back into my worry, my pain, my
story of how things should be, could have been, would have been…
No not
tonight! I beg you not tonight!
Leave the
tomb of the past behind… walk out into the garden of the new morning of God’s
Love.
He has died
to show you how much you are loved. Your God has died for you!
He has
risen to show you how much you are loved. Your God has risen for you!
He has gone
ahead of you to prepare a place for you. Your God goes ahead of you!
No more fear
of the future then!
No more
regret for the past then!
As the Lamb
He has cancelled your past
As the Lion
He fights for your future…
So we on
this holiest of nights begin again with the God of beginning
We say to
Him again Lord that I may see! Lord that I may follow! Here I am Lord in all my
mess, my pain, my glorious brokenness! Here I am for you! Let me begin again
this day, this very moment. Not my will but yours…
What have
we to fear?
We have it
from the Angel’s mouth…
He has
risen…
He is not
here in the place of the tomb…
He is going
before you…
It is there
you will see Him…
Just as He
told you…
And let us
pray: Lord I will follow you into the easter light of the life you have
prepared for me…
