Easter 2016

Christ is risen! The tradition in Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches is a greeting and response. “Christ is risen.” “He is risen indeed!” It’s a liturgical formula, like ‘the Lord be with you’/‘and with your spirit.’ But it’s also the center point of Christian faith. On Good Friday we stay awhile at the foot of the Cross, and it is right that we should do so. But even that we only do because we know the ending. If that were the end of Jesus, we would not venerate His Cross. We would not wear crosses around our necks and hang them on our walls. We wouldn’t have a religion at all! St. Paul said it bluntly and honestly: if Christ isn’t risen, then all the rest of it is junk, or, in his words, ‘we are the people most to be pitied on earth.’


But you know what? Christ is risen!

My invitation to you is to set that fact right at the center of your life. Whatever you worry about in life, whatever hurt you bear… I’m not going to stand here and tell you to just get over it. That would be to ignore Good Friday, and we don't do that. But if you put the Risen Christ at the center of your life, you’ll have hope. And you’ll have perspective. Whatever comes, God’s going to work it out. Maybe not the way you expected. Maybe not the way you asked. Maybe not on this side of death. But He will. The Resurrection means it’s never too late, and it’s never hopeless. It’s the story of a man who was saved three days after the nick of time.


That’s why it makes all the difference. The only joy to be trusted is the joy on the far side of a broken heart. The only life to be trusted is the life on the far side of death. The hurting people in the world need more than a good pep talk or catchy slogan or clever meme. They need more than a vague, ultimately baseless assurance that things will work out. Because we all know darn well that sometimes they don’t. Sometimes our worst nightmare comes true.

Good Friday was the nightmare of nightmares. It had to be this way for the Gospel to really be the good news we need. If there’s a joy to be found on the far side of this, then that’s a joy we can trust. If there’s life to be found on the far side of this, then that’s the kind of life our hearts have been longing for since before our first childhood memories.

I like the way Matthew Kelly puts it:

“You want a joy that is lasting and complete. This is a beautiful desire. You want lasting joy in a world where so few things seem to last. And you want a joy that is forever — not fleeting moments of pleasure, but a joy that goes on and on, without end. You want complete joy…. Is your joy complete? If it isn’t, why? What is diminishing your joy? Who or what is robbing you of joy? What’s standing in the way of the complete joy that Jesus wants for you? How hard are you willing to work for that joy? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to have that complete joy? Are you getting in the way of your own joy?

“And, perhaps the question in all of this: Does the Gospel offer the best path to this complete joy? If you say, ‘no,’ that’s OK. I think you’re wrong, but if you honestly feel that way, there is no shortcut. You have to explore why you feel that way. What is an alternate path that is better than the Gospel at leading people to the complete joy that we desire? Does it have a track record or is it just something you have imagined that allows you to do whatever you want under the false premise that someday, somewhere, somehow it will lead to complete joy?

“The Gospel has a long track record of leading people to complete joy. I could list a thousand examples. But the beautiful thing is, you can test it for yourself and obtain instant proof. Start to embrace the Gospel more — a little more, a lot more, that’s up to you. But start to intentionally live the Gospel more each day.  As you do, pay attention to the joy that increases in you. Pay attention to the clarity you have about what really matters and what doesn’t. Pay attention to the stress and anxiety as it diminishes. Pay attention. I think you want what Jesus wants… the Gospel is an invitation and a blueprint for that complete joy.”

The proof begins with the empty tomb. But I love the challenge in Kelly’s question. I have the same confidence in the Gospel. I dare you to try it. I dare you. Your life probably won’t get easier. Your problems won’t dissolve in a whirl of holy smoke. But you will have joy in proportion to how fully you commit yourself to living the Gospel.

People tell priests all the time, and I mean all the time, about how the Church has let them down, or we’ve let them down, or other Christians have let them down. Of course! Not to diminish anyone’s suffering or to excuse the inexcusable, but, well… of course. But the Gospel has never let anyone down. No one has ever walked the road to Sainthood and found it a disappointment. No one has ever given their life to Jesus and regretted it.

So please, I’m telling you… take the dare. If you’re somebody who isn’t used to finding yourself inside a church very often, welcome, I’m so incredibly glad you’re here, and this is for you, too. Jump in to this church thing. I mean really jump in! Obviously, the people in the church are a mess in all kinds of ways; that’s why we’re here. Jesus calls us together, and Jesus is calling each of us to take whatever that next step is for us. You can’t do Christianity alone, and you don’t need Christianity if you aren’t a sinner. We all have a next step we can take. Ask God to show you yours. That’s your dare.

Sometimes the next step is to get deeper into Scripture and the tradition of the Faith. Sometimes it’s to simplify your life, or cut out something that’s holding you back. Sometimes - no, always - it’s being more kind and generous to others. There is always one more step.

Take that step, not out of fear or guilt, but in the confident hope that the Gospel is the path of life and joy. The verdict is in, and it’s bad news for Satan. God’s love can’t be broken. God’s life can’t be buried. If that life is in you, you are alive completely and forever. 

If you put the Risen Christ at the center of your life, you’ll have hope. And you’ll have perspective. Whatever comes, God’s going to work it out. Maybe not the way you expected. Maybe not the way you asked. Maybe not on this side of death… but He will. The Resurrection means it’s never too late, and it’s never hopeless. That hope lives inside us, and nothing can snuff it out.

Back in the days of the Soviet Union the Communist Party would put on these sessions promoting atheistic socialism. The whole village would have to gather around to listen to this big presentation. Just to rub it in a little, they’d do it right in front of the church and make sure the priest was there, as the lecture went on for maybe an hour about the illusions of religion. Well, one time the lecturer was confident enough to allow the priest a five-minute rebuttal. The priest said “I don’t need five minutes.” He faced the people gathered and said “Christ is risen!” And they said “Christ is risen indeed!”

The conflict between the totalitarian State and the Gospel didn’t end that day. But guess which one’s still around? So it goes. Empires and civilizations come and go. The Gospel has been buried over and over and over. They’re all gone, and the Gospel’s still here.

When your life is crushed and buried, when you find yourself living some nightmare, when you find yourself well past the nick of time, you don’t need to be told to get over it. You don’t need a vague reassurance that things could be worse. You’re beyond the help of positive thinking and catchy slogans and clever memes. You need to know that the tomb is empty, that there’s nowhere you can fall that He can’t catch you, no place so dark that He hasn’t been there with you, and that there’s hope on the far side of a broken heart and life on the far side of death. You need to know that the tomb is empty.


Put the Risen Christ at the center of your life, His life living within you, that can never die. And keep taking that next step. It will make you better. It will bring you joy. One day, your life on earth will end. We’ll have your funeral. We’ll put you in a grave. And there Jesus will be, calling you to take that one last one next step.

Comments

  1. I always enjoy reading your posts, thank you for sharing them!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment