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P I R I T U A L F O R M A T I O N |
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CHILDREN'S EDUCATION |
SERMONS The
Great Vigil of Easter So much fear. The Roman and the Jewish authorities had feared this man. They had feared him so much that they used all the considerable power and authority of their offices to have him removed; to have him killed. So much fear. When the authorities had moved in, his friends and companions had fled in fear for their lives. The movement was dead. Their leader was dead too. All they could do was run from shadow to shadow; hide behind locked doors; wonder anxiously when it would be their turn. So much fear: fear of separation; fear of loss; fear of pain; fear of death. We understand that. We understand lives lived in fear. For we also fear, don't we? We fear separation. We fear alienation. We fear loss. We fear pain. We fear death. How much of our lives-how much of our time and energy-is spent dealing with our fear or running from our fear? How much of our conversation revolves around how bad things are; how bad things are going to get; how we can protect ourselves from it all? We save; we buy insurance; we exercise (or at least talk about it); we watch what we eat (or at least we talk about it); we install alarms in our offices, in our homes, in our cars; we hire guards; we build walls around our neighborhoods; we build walls around our lives-all to protect us from our fears. Our fear of loss. Our fear of separation. Our fear of death. So much fear-then and now. We can imagine the fear and the sorrow that those women-Mary Magdalene and the other Mary-carried with them that morning. Sorrow at all that had been lost. Sorrow at all they had seen. For they had been there. Although the others had fled, they had remained. Watching as he was raised up on the cross. Watching as he hung there in the Palestinian sun. Watching as he died. Watching as he was laid in the tomb and a stone was rolled over the door. They came that morning bearing their sorrow at all that they had seen. And they came bearing their fear of what the future would bring. So much sorrow. So much fear. They came to the tomb. Suddenly there was an earthquake. The stone was rolled back from the door. And seated upon it was a being of dazzling brilliance. "Fear not," the being said. He knew what they carried with them. "Fear not. He is not here. He has been raised from the dead. Now go and tell the others." They ran. As they ran, suddenly there was Jesus with them. "Fear not," he said. For he too knew what was at issue. He knew what drove them; what drives us. Fear not. The words echo through to this very night. They are words meant for us as surely as they were meant for those women that morning. Fear not. For, if what Mary Magdalene and that other Mary claim to have experienced on that day is true… If what the Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and all the other ancient witnesses claim is true… If what the Church for two thousand years has claimed is true… If God indeed, in Christ raised on the cross, absorbed all the sin and alienation of the world… If God indeed, in raising Christ from the dead, destroyed the power of death and redeemed all of creation, including you and me… … then there is nothing to fear. Nothing. For Christ is risen from the dead. Through Christ the dominion of death has been shattered. In Christ we have been reconciled with God. In Christ nothing can or ever will be able to separate us from the love of God. Nothing. here is nothing to fear. Fear not. Alleluia. David
Christian Matthew 28:1-10
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Chapel
of the Cross · 674 Mannsdale Road · Madison, Mississippi
39110 · (601) 856-2593
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