Every few years or so, it seems, a high-ranking ecclesiastic or cleric somewhere in the Christian world gets into hot water for appearing to deny the reality of the Resurrection. The hapless theologian\u2019s name is in the papers and all over the blogosphere, and devout members of the church everywhere are scandalized. There is even talk of excommunication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Usually the prelate\u2019s statement or assertion, when examined more closely, turns out to be nothing as definitive as an outright denial of Jesus\u2019 physical resurrection, but rather a vague \u2013 some might even say muddled \u2013 expression of uncertainty about its exact meaning and significance in the modern world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, if we review carefully the various scriptural texts dealing with the Resurrection of our Lord, we find plenty of precedent for ecclesial muddle and confusion surrounding its actual meaning. According to this evening\u2019s passage from the Gospel of Luke, for instance, the remaining eleven Apostles \u2013 the first bishops, as many believe \u2013 upon hearing the news of the empty tomb reject the women\u2019s testimony out of hand as \u201can idle tale\u201d and pay no further attention to it. They simply cannot believe their ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peter, of course, at least bestirs himself to visit the tomb and see for himself if the report is true \u2013 that the tomb is indeed empty \u2013 just as the women have reported. But beyond \u201cstooping and looking in,\u201d he seems immobilized and unable to act. Rather than breaking out into Handel\u2019s \u201cAlleluia Chorus\u201d and proclaiming loudly and joyously the Good News of the Risen Lord, he instead heads straight \u201chome, amazed at what had happened\u201d \u2013 as Luke puts it \u2013 which seems to be a polite way of saying Peter went home not knowing quite what to make of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some apostle \u2013 or bishop \u2013 he turned out to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The befuddlement does not end there, of course. If we look further into the various gospel accounts of the empty tomb, we find that Mary herself, according to the Gospel of John, at first does not recognize the Lord at all, even supposing him to be the local gardener. And in the account of the story from the Gospel of Mark, the band of women first head home themselves and sit on the news of the empty tomb, telling absolutely no one of their experience, \u201cfor they were afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So for something we now proudly proclaim as being at the very heart and hub of our faith, the Good News of the Resurrection does not get off to a very auspicious start. It is perhaps reassuring \u2013 or unsettling, depending on your point of view \u2013 to know that things have not changed that much among us Christians even some 2,000 years on. We still do not know quite what to make of the Resurrection. It is still a sign of contradiction, a mystery in the most genuine sense. Perhaps we should actually find it encouraging that Jesus\u2019 resurrection can still be such a hot topic today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet if the Resurrection itself remains a sign of contradiction and a mystery for Christians and seekers alike, it also happens to be the only hope there is for our fallen and sometimes all too callous world. The sad truth is that for far too many people today, believers and non-believers alike, it is still as if the rock had not yet been rolled aside from Christ\u2019s tomb. They do not share in our Easter faith and joy this night. Their way is blocked still by sin, doubt and death; and their vigil goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is to such as these that we now proclaim our firm conviction that Christ has indeed been raised. It is perhaps not what we, left to our own wits and devices, might have expected or anticipated. It does not make sense, as the world understands sense and meaning. And it might, in fact, still seem \u201can idle tale\u201d to some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it is so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For us Christians, life and significance can paradoxically be found only in the chasm of an empty and abandoned tomb. The place of death has become for us and for our world the gateway of life itself. And just as our everyday living is in some deeper sense a mystery and sharing in all life, so is the Resurrection for us a sharing in the very life of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps better put, it is God sharing through his Son in our life, infusing our humble world with divinity, and transforming us as Christ was himself transformed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Christ\u2019s death and resurrection, as Paul tells us in our second reading this day from his Letter to the Romans, \u201cWe are no longer \u2026 enslaved to sin.\u201d Perplexed or not, whether we realize it or not, the granite has been rolled aside for us just as surely as it was for the women at Jesus\u2019 tomb. Unfettered by sin, we now are free, as Paul describes it, to \u201cwalk in newness of life,\u201d perhaps with baby steps at first, but with an ever stronger stride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We shall leave this church tonight, however tired or sleepy, nevertheless \u201calive to God in Christ Jesus,\u201d knowing that, for us, the dawn has surely already come. For we \u201clive with him\u201d who has been raised immortal from the sleep of death. No boulder or stone can ever block our way again. But as we, like Peter perhaps, return home tonight from the empty tomb, amazed at what has happened, we shall arise soon enough to proclaim loudly and boldly \u2013 for the whole world to hear \u2013 an end to sin and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Christ is risen. And we no longer look for \u201cthe living among the dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes: The Lord is risen indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alleluia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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