Homily for Easter Sunday 4/20/25

Jesus isn’t in the tomb. This isn’t a science lesson or a history lesson. We are all clear in understanding that John saw and believed. And the lesson of Easter is that we are called to believe.

In the joy of Easter we gather to affirm our faith and to be an example of faith as well as to be a voice of encouragement to one another. The early church again and again gave expression, as the reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us, to the responsibility each believer has, to share the good news. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it.

For us living contemplative monastic life, the second reading gives us encouragement in the words, ‘your life is hidden with Christ’. This passage is meant for all believers but takes on a special character as we embrace a call to support the community of faith far and wide, by our discipline of prayer and our dedication to a very particular way of showing God our love. Each of us knows that everyone is being invited into Jesus’ dying and rising, but we also know that this is expressed in different ways for different people. We did not choose a monastic career, God called us to a particular vocation, to this life to live in union with Jesus for the sake of others.

So what does it mean for us to receive the words of this portion of the gospel of John today? The women hurry to complete the burial ritual only to find the stone rolled away and the tomb is empty. They hurry to tell the men, and Peter and John race to the tomb where they discover that what the women have reported is true. Again let me say this is not a history lesson or a science lesson. As the women bear a message that draws others to faith, to believe, so Peter and John will carry this message, and have entrusted this message to us, that it may be carried into the lives of everyone. We speak our faith in the way we live our lives, not persuading others to believe but hopefully allowing others to encounter the presence of Jesus in his body, the church, one with the community of believers!

The new life of Jesus in us is not some unexpected novelty, some never before experienced adventure, it is the faithful living of his way of love and service in a joy filled manner experiencing God being with us, again and again. Just as he comes to us here and now in Word and sacrament to give us himself, that we might be filled with him and pass on to others what we have received, the very presence of the Risen Lord! May the grace and peace of the Risen Lord be with you!!