Water hyacinths at Kawainui Marsh in Kailua (Photo: Dann Ebina)
He is risen! Alleluia!
What difference does it make that Jesus rose from the dead? In our more cynical moments we might very easily entertain this question. We say he conquered sin. Well, Alleluia! But sin is all around us, and we could make a long list of how God’s commandments are not only disobeyed but sometimes even roundly mocked and ridiculed. We say that Jesus conquered death. Alleluia, yet again! Yet we continue to see death all around us, from abortions and euthanasia, to tragic suicides and diseases over which we have little control. If Jesus had died on the cross but still lay in his tomb in Jerusalem, would the world be any worse off than it is today?
To know the power of the resurrection takes faith and a different way of looking at things. It means having a different perspective on every part of life. Mary Magdalene looked straight at the risen Jesus but thought he was the gardener who might know where Jesus’s body had been taken — until Jesus spoke her name. The disciples who walked seven miles with the risen Jesus to Emmaus on the day of his resurrection had heard of the concept of resurrection, but their eyes were closed — until the breaking of bread. Thomas, who had been tutored by Jesus himself about the resurrection, did not even believe his 10 fellow apostles when they said they had seen the risen Lord — until the Lord himself displayed his glorious wounds, right before his eyes. The latter-day apostle, Saul of Tarsus, was wildly indignant that some of his fellow Jews had the absurd notion that Jesus had risen from the dead — until he was converted when the brilliant light of the risen Jesus invaded his life and changed his very identity into Paul, the great preacher of the risen Jesus. There is no doubt that the lives of all these disciples were changed. They still experienced sin, suffering, rejection and death itself, but they did so with an unbelievable joy, because Jesus’s resurrection did indeed make a huge difference for them.
As we celebrate Easter in the midst of a pandemic, of senseless violence in our cities and homes, of vitriolic discord between one faction and another, what will make the difference for us? It will be allowing Jesus to call our names by seeking after him with all our hearts. It will be coming frequently to the Eucharist, the “breaking of bread,” where Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives us his own Body and Blood. It will be looking on the wounds of Jesus in the sick, the poor, the abandoned, and recognizing that when we serve the least among us we serve him, and we cry out, “My Lord and my God!” It will be in letting his light shine so brightly that it will overcome any darkness, whether in our own hearts or in the terrible things we often have to endure in life. It will be in going out to others to let them know that Jesus’s resurrection was not for the sake of eliminating suffering and death on this earth, but for giving us hope that if we live in his light, he can change a dark world into a radiant place filled with joy.
The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest event in the history of the world, because it gives us all hope that even when we feel buried and locked away by the powers of death, we need not be cynical or despairing, but full of a love that can never die. He is risen! He will raise us to life on the last day! Though it may seem the most foolish and naive thing to do to the rest of the world, it is our duty and our salvation to give thanks to God that the Lamb once slain as a sacrifice for us, is now alive and is always with us. It is in our childlike wisdom that comes from God alone that we continually sing “Alleluia” with all we have and all we are. And that glorious song will make all the difference!
