Easter Vigil
Well at long last the Easter
Vigil. We gather here tonight to tell
the stories. We began with creation, the
beautiful story of creation. God creating this wonderful, beautiful world and everything and
everybody in it. As always God
looked at everything He had made and said, “It’s very good.” And it’s very good that you and I are here
tonight. This Easter Vigil in the year
2010, one that we’ve never celebrated before with the people who are here in
this church tonight. God wants you and
me to be here. God looks at you and me
tonight and says, “It’s very good.”
We know that that story of
creation, as time when on, the people that God formed didn’t always listen to
Him, did they? The beautiful story from
Exodus reminded us how they needed to be led out of slavery in
You know you push it back a
little bit further, even before the Israelites, going back into that story of
Genesis and our first human parents, Adam and Eve as we call them. Remember God said, “Look you’ve got
everything but don’t touch the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” What happened? As you and I have done probably many times in
our lives, as soon as somebody says, “Don’t touch it” oh I got to touch it. God said, “Don’t Adam and Eve.” Sure enough they did. And what was their sin? They had to grab it. They had to take it. God said, “No. I told you I’m giving you everything. You don’t have to grab it, take it and make
it your own. It’s freely given to you.”
And the course of human
history has been that way. We’ve been
trying to grab and to take and keep it for ourselves. And that’s our sin isn’t it? So much, our selfishness,
our pride.
That’s why God said, “I’ll
send My Son”. Our readings proclaim it
so well tonight. “He’ll teach you the
way again of accepting, receiving, being gracious.”
Part of our story here
tonight, the story of these men and women who will be standing before you to
receive various sacraments. Chuck is
going to become a Christian tonight.
We’ll baptize him in the waters, the waters of creation. God’s life will flow in him in such a
powerful, beautiful way. And Sarah is
going to be receiving full admission into the Catholic Church tonight, and her
husband, Jeremy and family sitting next to him, and then Jennifer are all going
to receive Confirmation.
What is their story for all
of us? They are reminders to us of this
journey of faith. That we’re never
finished are we? We’ll never finish
until we get to that promised gift of eternal life in heaven. They will stand before us tonight as
beautiful symbols of receiving what God wants to give them. Thank you for what you are giving to us
tonight by your presence here.
Because that is what God
wants all of us to be. To be able to
receive each day so humbly and so graciously the beautiful gift of life and
love.
You know there was a little
line in that gospel reading tonight, very powerful line. It will be in the gospel reading
tomorrow. Notice in all the gospel
accounts of Easter Sunday there is no appearance of Jesus. What do they find? The empty tomb. One line, Peter went up and he peered in and
he saw the linen cloths lying separate by themselves. The gospel tomorrow will continue that line,
and the disciple who Jesus loved went in after Peter and he too saw the cloths
lying in one part and the cloth that covered the face of Jesus wrapped up laying by itself. And
the scripture will say, “He saw and he believed because they did not yet
understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”
Resurrection calls for
faith, not understanding. Resurrection
calls for faith, not understanding. Why
that little linen cloth. Because in the culture of that time, and every Hebrew and Jewish
person knew this. When the master
was having his table set the servant will prepare everything, just lay it out
perfectly. The master would sit there
and have his meal. At the end of the
meal he would take his napkin and he would wipe his face and his fingers and
clean his beard. And if he took that
napkin and wadded it up and threw it back on the table the servant, looking
from a distance, would know that he was finished and that he could clear the
table. But if he took his napkin, stood
up, folded it neatly and laid it next to his plate he was saying to his
servant, “I’m coming back. I’m not
finished.” That’s the beautiful
symbolism of that little line in the gospel.
The linen cloth was laid up folded at the end of the tomb because Jesus
was coming back. And that’s why the
gospel doesn’t have His appearance there but they saw and they believed.
So what will you and I see
tonight? What will you and I believe? We will see these people standing before us
making professions of faith and taking this great journey. We will see ourselves then in them. We will go forth from this liturgy tonight to
take the beautiful gift of faith once again and share it with others.
The resurrection is
happening in you, in me tonight. Every
time that you and I give joy, hope, mercy, compassion, understanding,
forgiveness, mercy, feeding, clothing, sheltering we are doing and living the
resurrection. It’s happening in you and
me tonight and everyday.
And how could we not but
say, “Alleluia!” How could we not but
say “Alleluia.”