Homily for the week of April 24, 2011

Easter Vigil and Sunday 2011

Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8

Lk 24: 13-35

Destructive earthquakes have been part of our world in the past year. As the people of Japan, New Zealand and Haiti slowly rebuild their lives after suffering the devastating effects of earthquakes, most of you may have missed the mention of an earthquake in the Bible reading I just finished. St. Matthew says And behold, there was a great earthquake. The early morning daybreak is shattered with “a great earthquake” echoing the description of the aftermath of the death of Jesus. Just after Jesus utters his final words and breathes his last, Matthew says, The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many .

While the earthquakes of our day cause massive loss of life by entombing people in the rubble of collapsed buildings, the earthquakes in the Gospel have the opposite effect: they split open tombs and raise to new life those held in the grip of death. They signal tectonic shifts made possible for humankind through God’s action in Christ.

Foremost is the shift away from paralyzing fear to an empowering joy. The angel’s first words to the women are, “Do not be afraid!” . The centurion and those keeping watch over the crucified Jesus were terrified at the earthquake and what took place after his death, as were the guards at the tomb, who “were shaken with fear” so that they “became like dead men.”

Not so Jesus’ disciples. The angel directs them away from seeking Jesus the crucified so that they can experience him as risen. God’s messenger invites them to come and see the place where he lay but then directs them to go out quickly. They are not to stay in the place of death. They are not to build a monument to the martyr Jesus and glorify his death but rather to announce and live the new life that bursts forth from the empty grave.

The words DO NOT BE AFRAID are the same words that an angel told Joseph some 33 years before when Joseph was also confused when he found out his wife Mary was pregnant and wondered as to who might be the father.

Before His death Jesus did not lay out a clear path for our future or the future of the Catholic Church. The women did not know how the story of Easter was going to turn out as we do some 2011 years later. But the words DO NOT BE AFRAID gave them hope and comfort. The words inspired them to remain faithful to their faith and hopes about Jesus. It also encouraged them to move ahead with their own lives and to help spread the good news about Jesus. They told the male disciples to go to Galilee.

Harboring some fear, they follow the angel’s instructions and let joy overtake them. Then Jesus himself appears to them and reiterates his oft-repeated invitation to his disciples to let go the death-grip of fear. They can move from fear to joy, when they come to know that Jesus never abandons his earthquaked people and that he is able to transform even the most brutal effects of violence. It is not only in this one definitive act of raising the crucified Christ that God’s life-giving power is exercised, but in every act of forgiveness and in every move toward reconciliation enacted by Jesus’ disciples.

Easter is not only about what happened to Jesus but, to a great degree, it is about what happens to us as we live lives that are transformed by his rising. St. Paul speaks about Christians being so united with Christ that when he dies, we die with him. And when he is raised, so we too. We not only await final transformation but, every time we stand with the crucified peoples of our day, as did Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the Risen One is alive in us as we break the hold of death-dealing powers even now.

On this Easter day Jesus offers us the same message of hope and comfort. He says to us DO NOT BE AFRAID. The problems in our personal lives, our church, our country and our world will not be solved overnight and disappear. Because of them, we, like the women at the tomb may well remain confused and discouraged. But the promise of Easter is that in the end life triumphs over death, good conquers evil, and hope overcomes despair. The message of the Risen Jesus this Easter, as on the first Easter, is one of hope and comfort. As the risen Jesus said to the women on their way to the tomb, so he says to us: DO NOT BE AFRAID. Let us rejoice as once again we say and sing alleluia after 40 days of silence.