Let’s throw our minds back in time and imagine the scene in Jerusalem in, say, the year 34 of this era give or take a year or two. A small group of people who had come to recognize Jesus as the long awaited savior have been meeting “on the first day of every week” to break the bread and share the cup. Jesus told them to do so “in remembrance” of him and they have felt him to be really present to them when they gathered with fellow believers. But now a year has passed since those terrible and wonderful events which galvanized the Jesus movement. As good Jews they have gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the annual festival of Passover. When they gathered on this occasion around the table in remembrance of Him they, no doubt were powerfully struck by the feelings and thoughts of the previous year. Remember, they said, what it was like when he first said “this is my body” and “this is my blood.” Perhaps they reflected on the story of God’s merciful love which brought them to this point. From the first moment of creation, with the faith of Abraham, through the escape from slavery in Egypt, heeding the prophets, right up to the moment when Jesus ascended from their sight into heaven God had been at work. They probably told some of their memories of Jesus as well – how they first came to know him at his baptism when the heavenly voice said “This is my beloved Son.” This would cause them to give thanks that God claimed them as beloved at their baptisms and they warmly welcomed those who had joined them during the course of the year. Finally, they thought about the days ahead and gave thanks that they had the teaching of Jesus to light the way for he truly is the Light of the World.
Fast forward two thousand or so years, give or take year or three. We are part of that story. All of the rituals and practices and customs and traditions we celebrate on this night, this most solemn of vigils, are rooted and grounded in the age old story of our ancestors in the faith. We do the same things – celebrate Christ our light, tell the stories of faith, renew our baptismal vocation, break the bread and share the cup – for the same reason that they did: to remain in the real presence of Jesus. We welcome others into our fellowship for the same reason that Peter, Andrew, Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary invited others into the nascent Jesus movement. We have news which is too good to hold inside as if it were a tender bud that needed protecting. No, we understand that the more we give faith away, the more we have it.
What those first believers had, what we have, is the blessed assurance that trouble passes, that God makes a way out of no way, that Good Friday becomes Easter Sunday. You see, Church, on this night we can rejoice for Sunday is coming. On Friday you have to go to see the doctor, take your medicine, watch your blood pressure. But on Sunday, my Lord what a morning, the Risen Lord promises that we are a new creation and that all manner of things will be well. On Friday, you have to pay your bills, fix what’s broken, pay attention. But on Sunday, my Lord what a morning, the Risen Lord assures us not to worry about what we are to eat or what we are to wear for our Heavenly Father knows what we need. On Friday, you wonder how the family can hold together, how the kids can be kept safe, how to heal all those old hurts. But on Sunday, my Lord, what a morning, the Risen Lord empowers us to forgive seventy times seven times and to discover that what makes us one is not that we like each other but that God loves us all and calls us to be together. Yes, the Good Fridays are there. They are real. They are terrible. But Sunday is coming and, my Lord what a morning, all that we are as human beings is lifted up by the Risen Jesus to join with him in glory. We have to celebrate!
What kind of celebration? Let’s go back and remember that first Sunday. The angel told Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary, mother of James, the searching and hopeful women, “He is not here, but he has been raised.” He has been raised – news almost too good to be true. How their hearts must have burst on hearing the news. Notice though that there is a “but” in the angelic pronouncement: he is not here. He has been raised BUT he is not here. That is our story. On Sunday morning we already have all that we could have dreamed or hoped for – the Risen Jesus promises us that death has no power over us, that our stony hearts will be replaced by natural hearts, that even without money we can eat grain and drink wine and milk for God’s ways are not our ways, that the Red Sea of opposition will be parted, that all that God created, all this wide and confusing world was created good. BUT, the Risen Jesus is not here, he has gone ahead of us. On this Sunday we already have the resurrection promise BUT we live in the “not yet” as people of faith. We rejoice in Easter faith for we know how the story comes out. BUT we walk in Easter faith since we are striving to catch up to where Jesus, our Risen Lord, has preceded us. That is how we celebrate Easter. My Lord what a morning. Let us rejoice and be glad for Jesus Christ is risen today.
