May only truth be spoken here this day, and may only truth be heard, in the name of God, Father (+), Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Alleluia!  He is risen!

            The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

Alleluia!  He is risen!

            The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

Easter is here and my heart sings with the joy of the resurrection!  Our long journey through Lent has come to an end.  We have examined our selves, our souls and bodies and now we can properly celebrate this great day!

 

The rigors of Holy Week have produced a feeling of joy that can only come from one source, God.  The great three-day liturgy that we journeyed through from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday and ended last night with the Easter Vigil has helped us to purify our minds and souls so that this day can have its true meaning!

 

We come to worship this day to complete our journey through Lent and rejoice!  But what is it that we are celebrating?  Why do we feel this need to rejoice?

 

I remember a workshop that I attended a few years ago about the Liturgies of Holy Week.  When we came to talk about the festival of Easter the facilitator said, “What can we say about the resurrection?  Well, one thing is for sure, it happened!  The resurrection happened – you are here aren’t you?  If the resurrection had not happened then this thing we call the Christian Church would not exist.”

 

I took great solace in those words.  For we had been studying some very radical theologies at that time and I was afraid that all the things that I held dearest and best were to be shattered, challenged and destroyed.

 

To hear this learned man say, “It happened!” so matter-of-factly made my heart sing!  And so it sings today!  The great festival of Easter has begun.  Easter is a fifty-day festival we will be celebrating until and including the day of Pentecost.

 

Now, let’s look at this day just briefly.

 

Mary Magdalene and the other women came to the tomb so that they could be the first to anoint the body of Jesus.  They were no doubt distraught, weeping and scared.

 

They are positive that Jesus is dead, truly dead.  They are unable to see straight through her tears and confusion.  As I said on Good Friday, they are still asking, “Why did this happen?”

 

The scene they are greeted with is one that only confuses and upsets them more.  The tomb is empty.  They feel like they have been kicked when they were already down.  They assume that the enemies of Jesus have come to this place and have secretly taken away his body so that this place would not become a source of uprising.  They assume that the enemies of Jesus wish to complete his humiliation.

 

Through their tears they see a young man who must have been very confused when weeping women come to the tomb.  For this messenger, this angel, already knows that the resurrection has taken place.  He has come to rejoice at the place where Jesus destroyed death.

 

This angel says, “Do not be alarmed,” meaning, “Why are you not rejoicing, Jesus is alive!”

 

Then they flee; terrified even more than before.  This scene was so beyond their comprehension, so beyond what they had expected to find that all they could do was run away from it – their fight or flight instinct told them to run away.

 

For you see they were searching for a dead Jesus; a Jesus that does not exist.

 

Most people in this world are wildly searching for the dead Jesus, we look high and low, we pray to God, we do not know where He is.  Yet, in the end we have to let Jesus find us and then we can rejoice.

 

We can search until the end of our days but until we allow ourselves to be open to Jesus, until we allow ourselves to recognize what is right in front of us only then will Jesus find us!

 

Today I am going to tell you a great secret, one that you may not have really heard before.  Would you like to hear that secret?

 

Jesus is alive!

 

My dear friends, my brothers and sisters, Jesus is right here, Jesus is right in front of each and every one of us.  Jesus is in each and every one of us; we just have to let ourselves see it.  Not to get so lost in the searching that we ignore what it is that we bump into each and every day.

 

He lives in the hearts and souls of all those who call themselves, and are called to be, Christians.  Jesus is calling us all by name.  So let’s get excited about our faith in Jesus, let us be happy that he lives!  Let us with joyful voices proclaim to the world:

 

It is into this joy-filled life that Addyson is to be baptized today!  Indeed it is into this joy-filled live that we are all baptized!  The old life that ends in death has been done away with; it holds no power for us.  Addyson, today will die to that life and be reborn through the waters of baptism to a life that is eternal and everlasting.

 

Her parents and godparents are committing, on her behalf, to live the life that is filled with the Resurrection of Jesus – a life that is not afraid to say:

 

Alleluia!  He is risen!

            The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

Finally, the women flee from the tomb and put it behind them.

 

As Jean Vanier writes in his book Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John,

 

[They] must not try to possess him and cling to him, or seek to be the only one loved by him.  [They] must not hold on to the past but live in the present moment in a new, more interior relationship with the risen Jesus.  This is a mutual indwelling, he in [them], and [them] in him… Jesus does not want [them] to cling to him.  He sends [them] forth to the community… [1]

 

My friends, so too does Jesus send us.  We are not to simply worship Jesus here in this building.  We are not to simply cling to Jesus in private but we are called to go out into the community and proclaim with loud voices, and with great deeds, to this troubled world:

 

Alleluia!  He is risen!

            The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

Amen.