Homily Easter Sunday 2024 - Christ has Risen

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Inspired by Fr. Richard Rohr

Alleluia, Christ has risen. Truly, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!; Alleluia, Christ has risen. Truly, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!; Alleluia, Christ has risen. Truly, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Last night the Easter Vigil started at sunset. It was dark. Preparing for the mass, I had practiced singing the Easter Proclamation for 2 months. Some of you may recognize that I don’t sing well. 

As I got up there, I incensed the proclamation and looked out at the 300 people at the Vigil Mass. My head started to hurt. My stomach ached. I sang too fast. I forgot all my practice and all the instructions I had been given. It didn’t even sound right in my own head.

After mass, I received so much love. People came up afterwards and said Deacon, you did a wonderful job. It was nice to know that love. 

However, one friend came running up after mass and said – Deacon, you are a great person and I love you; but, you can’t sing.

I laughed and said, not in this life; but, maybe, God will bless me to sing in the heavenly choir.

He said, Sorry Deacon, I don’t think you will make the cut.

It was also dark when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. When she arrived, the stone the had sealed the tomb was rolled away. Fearing what could have happened, she ran to find the disciples.

Simon Peter and the disciple Jesus loved (in case you didn't know the disciple Jesus loved is John’s self identification) were hiding with the rest of Jesus’ followers for fear of the Jews. Mary Magdalene burst into their place of hiding and told them the stone was rolled away. Luke tells us that most of the disciples thought Mary's words were “nonsense”.

The disciples were in the dark.

In that darkness, Peter and the beloved disciple ran to the tomb. They found the tomb empty. Scripture tells us the two disciples saw and believed. But, they did not yet understand the scripture that He had to rise from the dead. 

They were still in the dark. It was darkness created in the world by human sinfulness and a failed relationship with God.

Good Friday was a testimony of that failed relationship of humanity to God. The world did not like what Jesus had to say. People were not ready for the truth of Jesus. In that time and place, the world said it did not want Jesus.

People tend to kill love. In the reality of that moment in history, they killed the love that God sent to the world. Because the world was afraid. Afraid of the freedom, the hope, and even the goodness it would bring. 

The powers of this world rejected Jesus. The world did not just reject Jesus, it tortured God. Humanity tried to drive God away from us.

Friends, even in times of darkness that people of faith can find unreal and even apocalyptic, Easter will come. No matter how dark we think things are, God never abandons us. It is as certain as the dawn.

The two disciples ran to discover an empty tomb. They saw the discarded cloth that had wrapped Jesus’ body. In another place was the head covering neatly folded. To these witnesses, something unprecedented had happened, a miracle. 

They just did not know the totality of the miracle. They did not understand that God raised Christ Jesus up. That morning, the Risen Christ came to the world. God came back to the world that had rejected him. He came back to a world that is not ready for, never expects, and sadly probably does not want the Risen Christ.

But as Christian believers, we understand the Risen Christ is beyond the control of the world. We know the truth. The Risen Christ  is now everywhere and is our guarantee of God’s promise. The Risen Christ energizes us by the power of the Holy Spirit sending us to preach the gospel of Christ testifying He is the Holy one of God. 

As Christian believers, we know Jesus Christ came back into the world, the Risen Christ, for the love of us. In that love we know hope. We know goodness. We know holiness. With the love of Christ in us, preach the good news of the Risen Christ by the way you live your life and love one another.

Praise be Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen. 

Alleluia, Christ has risen. Truly, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!; 

Alleluia, Christ has risen. Truly, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!; 

Alleluia, Christ has risen. Truly, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!