Homily for Easter Sunday 2015

The Women at the Tomb by Julie Rodriguez Jones

Homily for Easter Sunday 2015
(Gospel for today's Mass)

Audio for homily

How do you suppose they felt, these three women,

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome?

How do you suppose they felt

as they made their way to Jesus’ tomb?

that first Easter Sunday morning?

They had rested on the Jewish Sabbath

but bright and early on Sunday morning,

these three who had stood at the foot of the Cross

made their way to the tomb

where they had left their dear friend’s body,

late Friday afternoon.

Their mission was to embalm him with spices.

I’m sure the pace they kept was slow,

their steps burdened by loss and grief,

by disappointment in their hearts, confusion in their minds,

and a hollow, aching sadness in their souls.

They felt helpless.

They wondered how they would even get into the tomb,

the stone blocking its entrance was so large and heavy.

They didn’t dress up for the first Easter Sunday.

They weren’t planning a nice brunch for later in the day.

There wasn’t a Cadbury egg or a jelly bean in sight

and they met no bunnies with baskets along the way.

And us?  Some of us might have new Easter outfits –

or we got dressed up for the occasion.

And maybe that bunny has left us an Easter basket

or a bowl of sweets.

And a lot of folks probably are going to have

a nice brunch or dinner this Easter Sunday afternoon.

We’ve got all that stuff.

The question to ask, however, is this:

Will all that we have  fill us as fully

as Mary and Mary and Salome were filled

when their grief was interrupted by the peace and joy

of Jesus rising from the dead?

It’s THE  Easter question

and it’s as much a question for me as it is for you:

where is Jesus in my life?

Is he still hanging on the Cross,

a murky mirror of my own pain and suffering?

Am I stuck in Good Friday, awash in troubles,

with little trust or hope?

Have loss and confusion and disappointment

and the dull ache of sadness

rolled a stone against my heart,

entombing me in my fears and my anxieties?

Or am I making my way towards the tomb,

one, heavy step at a time,

slowly making my way to find Jesus,

even a Jesus who has died,

so that I might get at least that close to him?

Or perhaps I’ve arrived at the tomb

and concluded by virtue of my own inspection that indeed –

there is no Jesus –

just an empty hole in the earth which others

 (fools that they are!) take as proof of something that is - not.

Or:   perhaps like the two Mary’s and Salome,

I’ve arrived at the tomb to find in its unexpected,

unanticipated emptiness

the healing of yesterday’s pain and suffering

and reason to hope that all is not lost;

that even what I thought was gone forever,

what I was sure I had buried,        

what I thought I’d never find or see or love again: LIVES !

I thank God that Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years before

the invention of smart phones.

I thank God that the news of the resurrection wasn’t Tweeted

or texted, or FaceBooked or emailed.

I thank God that the angel at the tomb

told Mary and Mary and Salome:

 “You - go tell Peter, go tell the disciples, go tell the others.

Tell them what you’ve seen, what you’ve come to believe:

that Jesus is afoot and he’s going ahead of you

and you’re going to see him, they’re going to see him again.”

           

And that, of course, is what I’m doing right now.

I’m telling you what I know in my own life.

It’s some 2,000 years since Jesus’ death

but I’ve often been stuck in the pain of Good Friday.

I’ve never been to the Holy Land

but I know what it is to confront a stone

rolled against the door of my heart and keeping me from peace.

And though I’ve never had an actual vision of Jesus,

I have seen him and found him in times and places

that first seemed empty and then, unexpectedly

filled with unanticipated life when, with faith and with courage

I walked into that emptiness

and allowed God’s Spirit to fill me.

And I have seen Jesus, the risen Jesus, in you.

I have seen Jesus healing your hearts and calming your confusion.

I have seen Jesus strengthening your resolve and easing your grief.

I have seen Jesus in you when, like him, you put the needs of others

ahead of your own, with a love that empties itself to fill another.

I invite you, then, to ask the Lord’s help

in taking down your suffering from Friday’s Cross

and putting it to rest in his outstretched arms.

I invite you to believe, deeply,

that what you’ve locked in - can be set free,

that what you’ve buried - can rise again,

that every empty place in your heart is waiting to be filled

with the love of Jesus who has risen from the dead

and goes ahead of you to be there for you

wherever your path may take you.

And I invite you to share your story with others,

just as Peter did, sitting down with that family

and telling them the story of Jesus.

In the next day or so, someone’s going to ask you,

“How was your Easter?”

Be prepared to share something in response

beyond baskets and bunnies and brunch.

Be prepared to share how you know Jesus

and how his peace has risen in your heart.

Jesus does indeed go before us

and the first place he’ll meet us this Easter 

is here at his table.

Before any of us goes off to brunch or Easter dinner,

the Risen Jesus invites to his Supper

and to share in the gift he offered us on the Cross, his life,

now in his Body and Blood in the Bread and Cup of Communion.

Come to his table and ask the Risen Jesus to fill your heart’s emptiness

with the fullness of his joy and peace.

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