April 24, 2011: Easter Day

Easter Day
Jn 20.1-10
24 April 2011
Fr. Dow Sanderson

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One of my favorite of G.K. Chesterton's witty sayings is:

The world is divided into two kinds of people...

Those who divide the world into two kinds of people...

And those who do not.

On Easter Day, it would seem rather obvious that the categories for our list would simply be:  Those who believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ... and those who do not.

It also seems rather obvious that on Easter Day, the job of the preacher is to say a thing or two about why people who are on list "B" ought seriously to consider switching teams.

To start with, the most ancient Tradition we have received, and a point on which all witnesses agree... is that place where Jesus was buried was well-known to those who had seen him crucified...

And that when the very first visitors to that Tomb went to pay their respects... the Tomb was empty.  All the Gospel writers agree on this point.  Jesus had been very dead.  Jesus was buried in the cold dark grave.  A heavy stone sealed the tomb...And on the Third Day, the stone was moved, and the grave was empty.

Now of course, fairness requires that we concede the point that finding the tomb empty does not, as a fact by itself, prove the resurrection.  In fact, the fear of hoax had already been hatched at the time of the Crucifixion.  That is why we read in the scriptures that a guard was ordered at the entrance of the tomb, lest the disciples should steal the body and make some extravagant claims...

So we will admit that this first bit of evidence in circumstantial.

But what should concern us more are those O so modern Christians who have claimed that it really didn't matter so much.  If the bones of Jesus were to be found somewhere, it wouldn't be that big a deal.

But I would argue that for anyone to say such a thing would mean that to them, the Resurrection itself wasn't that big a deal.  It reduces the Risen Lord to something that occurred in the head and heart of His believers, rather than as an event in time and space and history.

Again, what is the oldest Tradition?  We read in the Acts of the Apostles that when Simon Peter preached the resurrection, the first text that he used was Psalm 16:

For you will not abandon me to the Grave,

Nor let your Holy One see Corruption.

He then asks, 

Of whom does David write?  Of himself?  Or of one to come?  

Clearly he is not writing of himself, St. Peter argues, for he was buried, and we know where his tomb is to this very day!

In making this point, it is more than clear that Peter is referring to the fact that the tomb was empty... That there was no decaying body because Jesus had Gloriously Risen.  And we may be certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that if anyone could have refuted Peter's claim that the tomb was indeed empty... if there had been a Body to be found... they would never have allowed him to get away with such an outrageous claim.

But there was no evidence to the contrary.  And the boldness of the preaching continued.  Because these eye-witness had seen the Lord Living and Victorious.  And nothing could take that from them.

It is rather remarkable, isn't it, that the preaching of a few fishermen could have changed to world... That we are joined this morning by more than a billion fellow believers around the world in proclaiming that Our Lord is Risen.

I suppose we will always have the question in our heart, If God really wanted to prove that Jesus was Risen, why did he not appear in Rome?  Why did he not walk through the door of the Emperor's Palace?  Why to so few?  And in such a remote place?

In his recent book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict seeksto answer just that question for us.  He writes:

It is a part of the mystery of God that he acts so gently, that he only gradually builds up his history within the great history of mankind; that he becomes man and so can be overlooked by his contemporaries and by the decisive forces within history; that he suffers and dies and that, having risen again, he chooses to come to mankind only through the faith of the disciples to whom he reveals himself; that he continues to knock gently at the doors of our hearts and slowly opens our eyes if we will open our doors to him.

And yet, is not this the truly divine way? Not to overwhelm with external power, but to give freedom... to elicit love.  And if we really think about it, is it not what seems so small that is truly great?  Does not a ray of light issue from Jesus, growing brighter across the centuries, that could not come from any mere man and through which the light of God truly shines into the world?  Could the apostolic preaching have found faith and built up a worldwide community unless the power of truth had been at work in it?

Those first Christians believed with all their hearts.  They believed, and refused to deny, even unto a martyr's death... and because they have believed... and LIVED in accordance with what they believed, they have passed down a faith to you... and to me...

Which brings me to this question.  You are here today.  Why?  Is the Risen Jesus real to you?  And if so, what difference does it make in our lives?

St. John has left us an interesting little sermon illustration in his Gospel account of what he finds in cemeteries.

Do you not find it curious that he makes such a point of giving us very specific details about the grave clothes of Jesus?  The shroud that had wrapped his body was rolled up.  Discarded.  And likewise the cloths that had been wrapped around his bleeding head... also cast aside, in a separate place.

How does that compare with another cemetery scene... one that we heard from St. John just a few weeks ago... Do you remember?

Lazarus, the friend of Jesus had been dead and buried four days.  He was really dead... Decaying in the grave dead... And yet, the voice of Jesus called him forth from death...

And he came stumbling from the dark tomb... and into the light of day...

But what do you remember about him?  He was bound, head to toe by the grave clothes.  Wrapped up and constricted like a mummy.  So much so that Jesus had to give a second command:  Unbind him... and let him go.

My brothers and sisters, it is Easter.  Jesus is Raised and Living.  And he has offered us new life.  The stones to our tombs are likewise rolled away.  And he has called us forth.

Are we, like brother Lazarus, called to life and yet bound by death?

What grave clothes do we still cling to?  Old wounds and hurts?  A spirit that is quick to find fault in others?  Anger?  Disappointment?  Humiliation?

Oh, there is quite a long list of grave clothe fashion!

On this Easter, there is but one thing to do.... Leave those dead garments in the tomb. Listen to the command of the savior, who looks with pity on our encumbrances...

Unbind them!  Let them go free.

May the Risen Lord truly lead you into a new... and joyfully free Easter .

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

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