The Resurrection of the Lord 2025

 The Mass of Easter Day Lectionary: 42

We are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

 I t's not hard to enjoy the celebration of Easter. We love the Easter parade of springlike dresses, shirts, trousers, and hats. We can take our children to an annual Easter egg roll or an Easter egg hunt. We can thrill the children with reported sightings of the Easter Bunny. And there will certainly be family gatherings with televised broadcasts of whoever is playing basketball, baseball, hockey or golf -- while the women gather elsewhere. Easter is springtime and we're glad to see it come. 

It may not be so easy to celebrate the unexpected reappearance of the crucified prophet whom we know as our Christ Messiah. If we have not observed Lent, or tried and failed to observe it, Easter can be a reminder of what might have been; of the joy we were supposed to feel after forty days of penitential practices. You can be sure that someone somewhere drove through a church parking lot yesterday afternoon, a few minutes after four pm, and was surprised to find it empty. They did not know today is Easter. What were they looking for? 

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.

Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

We might ask the same question of those who appear in the churches on Christmas and Easter despite their disinterest in Advent and Lent. Perhaps they want to see a prophetic church. They want to see people who have relented – that is changed their decisions – about bad attitudes, rotten habits, and seedy companions. They have repented for their sins, atoned for their misdeeds, and in the process discovered the freedom of God's children. 

This kind of freedom is remarkable, rare, desirable, and even enviable. The strangers who appear on Easter might ask, “Where are you coming from that you enjoy such freedom?” Disciples of Jesus, we follow the promptings of his Holy Spirit. We are not compelled to do what we want to do. We’re habitually suspicious of our own wills, preferences, desires, and needs; and not afraid to consult with others, listen to them, and even to obey our authorities. 

Because the only new idea is the Good News of Jesus Christ, we can smell evil within the shiniest new rights, privileges, or freedoms that the world can offer. We’ve learned from the collective experience of the Church, "all that glitters is not gold." 

Last week we heard the story of Shadrack, Mishak, and Abednego; and of their being thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace if they refused to worship his golden statue. They replied:

There is no need for us, o King, to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If our God whom we serve can save us from the white hot furnace and from your hands, o King, may he save us. But even if he will not, know that we will not serve your god, or worship the Golden Statue that you put up.”

We have seen that defiant freedom in our crucified Jesus Christ and in our Christian martyrs. Those who fear God fear no one else. 

In 1943, in Auschwitz, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, suddenly stepped forward and volunteered to take the place of a man who had been condemned to death. When the astonished camp commandant asked "Who are you?” he said, “I am a priest.” He might have said I am a Catholic or a Christian. Like the Lord, he could not deny himself. He was free to obey the Spirit of God when no one expected him to do so. He stepped forward and spoke when most people would have told him to be quiet and say nothing. 

This is the freedom and the prophetic spirit that a prophetic church celebrates on Easter Sunday. This feast reminds us that those who have re-Lent-ed – that is, who have turned away from sin, atoned for their misdeeds, and learned to walk in the footsteps of Jesus – can speak to the powers of this world about God with authority and conviction. We can defy presidents, kings and tyrants, senates and congresses, mayors and aldermen. We can challenge ideological movements with their bizarre notions of identity, sexuality, economics, security, prosperity, and freedom. We have not sold our souls for a bowl of pottage, for bad ideas, insane fantasies, and golden idols. The world needs to see a prophetic Church and they want to hear what we have to say. They might not like what we have to say. They might disagree violently, but they still need to hear it, and they have a right to hear the truth spoken freely, boldly, and clearly without anger, without rancor. Because God so loved the world that he gave his only son for its redemption should we fail in our mission of being a holy, prophetic Church, we will have cheated the Earth and ourselves of God's mercy.