A Thread for Abcdxxxx To Get It Off His Chest

[Preechr]

The women who went to the tomb early this morning returned with an astonishing report. So astonishing that everyone who heard it thought their report was nonsense. It is important for us tonight to share in both of those emotions. Otherwise, we risk taking Jesus' resurrection for granted. Of course, Jesus rose from the dead. He said he would rise (as the men in dazzling garments reminded the women). He said he would rise, and he did. We have heard this from our youth, we have seen the paintings. We have read the Gospels and seen the movies. Like the sunrise and the early growth of springtime, we remember the resurrection and we are comfortable with it.

But No, we need to be astonished; we need to experience the same feelings as those who thought the news was nonsense, outrageous, impossible. One of the fun things about my mother was that you could retell her an old joke and she would laugh heartily. She never remembered jokes and so she delighted in hearing them all over again. She never took them for granted, never got used to them, never became bored with them. So it must be with us.

Everytime we hear the news of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth we need to be astonished, amazed, delighted. It's like waking up and suddenly remembering it's our birthday, or that today is the first day of summer vacation - even though we already knew it when we fell asleep. In fact, that is a good way for us believers to hear the news of the resurrection. When we walked into church earlier tonight we were asleep, unconscious, distracted. But now we have heard the Allelujah, the Exultet, the Gloria, and the Good News of the Resurrection. Now we are finally awake; we are finally alive because of the Good News of Jesus' resurrection.

The Good News is never old news. God didn't create us once; God is creating us always. God didn't save us once; God is always saving us. Peter hustled himself out to the tomb that same morning and saw that it was empty. I wonder if Peter did that very same thing everyday from then on. That's what we should do. Every morning when we get up, we should run ourselves out to the tomb and peek inside. Wow. The tomb is empty. Allelujia. Jesus is raised from the dead.

If we did receive the Good News again with every new day, a whole lot of other things would also change for us. That is of course the reason for doing it: everything has indeed changed for us. Everything is new for us. Christ is risen: we are saved. Death no longer has the last word over us. Weakness and failure and sin no longer determine our future and we dare not let them determine our present.

This is the night, the Exultet sings, when the people of Israel escaped from slavery and passed throught the flood. This is the night when the pillar of fire guilded our ancestors into the Promised land. This is the night we were born, we were baptized, we were forgiven. This is the night when we will be received into heaven. St. Paul told us tonight that as we shared in Jesus' crucifiction at our baptism so are we united in Jesus' resurrection.

No more is it Jesus' resurrection that is nonsense, now it is nonsense to keep this Good News to ourselves. It is nonsense to remain fearful or depressed. Yes, things will still fall apart for us. Friends and family members will die. We will still miss opportunities to do good and sometimes we will choose to do things that are wrong. Evil and sadness in will seem to pile up our life as in a tomb. But the women will still come back from that tomb and report that they find it to be empty. \par \par Yes, it is nonsense. God's love for us does not make sense; it is a miracle, a gift, and always a surprise. Let it be a surprise again tomorrow and next week and next month. Jesus is risen from the dead. Alleluja!