Easter Day: Rise Again with Christ As Easter People

Today's Scripture Readings

Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)

Peter began to speak to Cornelius and the other Gentiles: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (NRSV) 


1 Corinthians 15:19-26 (NRSV)

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

John 20:1-18 (NRSV)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Blog Reflection 

Alleluia.  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia.

God has shown us in Christ that there is no power that can keep God from loving us.  Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans wrote,

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39 NRSV).

The Easter event is a difficult one for our human minds to take hold of.  We live in a world where death and violence claim the lives of countless people every day.  We were all horrified by the violence that occurred in Brussels this week.  We continue to live in our communities, schools, theaters and public buildings fearing the next sting of gun violence may be right next to us.  The language and rhetoric used by our political candidates bombards our senses and confuses us as to what we are actually voting for.

The scene of Jesus' Crucifixion took place in a time and culture where violence, enslavement and conquest was the theme of everyday life.  Hundreds of people had been crucified by the Roman Empire as a way to punish those who would attempt to rebel against what was considered then, the greatest empire in the world.  As far as the Roman Empire was concerned, all of the world belonged to Rome.  

We can understand what Mary Magdalene must have been feeling on seeing that the tomb was empty.  Jesus' Disciples ran to see only linens and an empty tomb with the stone rolled away.  Mary's tears and wondering where Jesus was, left her vulnerable for God to do wondrous things for her.  The Risen Christ comes to her and she enters into the contemplative experience.  She is recognized for who she is by the Risen Christ, and knows His love for her is intimate and complete. 

In the Resurrection, Jesus turns all of the violence into an opportunity to defeat even death with unconditional and all-inclusive love.  Jesus did not stop violence, death or oppression.  In His Death and Resurrection, Jesus set us free to rise up as Easter people and become God's agents to speak up for those who have no voice.  We are able to call on the leaders of the Church and society to focus on those who are marginalized without the means to live their lives with dignity and equality.  The Paschal Mystery ends all reasons to scapegoat the poor and neglected to serve the ambitions of the wealthy and powerful.

Christians also need a resurrection to be Easter People.  Christianity does not hold a monopoly on truth.  The Christian Faith with our many elements of what being a Christian is about, holds for Christians the truth that Jesus Christ came to redeem the world so that God's love for all people may be made transcendent.  Our Creeds, Scriptures and Sacraments are not an excuse to be a people of supercessionism.  Other religions such as Judaism and Islam are not lost to damnation because they do not share our belief in who Jesus was or is.  The Resurrection is our reason to be love others by honoring individuals of other religions, sexual orientations, genders, gender identities/expressions, etc. by "striving for peace and justice" and "respecting the dignity of every human person." 

As we gather with our families, church communities and friends to celebrate this Easter Day, let us pray for one another that we rise with Christ as Easter People.  May we see the challenges around us as opportunities to live into God's mission for our lives.  May we leave behind our sense of certainty and embrace the Holy Spirit's call to move forward to where God wants us to be.

Alleluia.  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia. 

Amen.

Prayer

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus
Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of
everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the
day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death
of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.  (The Book of Common Prayer, p.222).

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.823).

Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.

Today's Scripture Readings

Luke 19:28-40 (NRSV)

After telling a parable to the crowd at Jericho, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They said, "The Lord needs it." Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

"Blessed is the king

who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven,

and glory in the highest heaven!"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

 
Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760)

Liturgy of the Word

Isaiah 50: 4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31 (BCP., p.623)

Philippians 2: 5-11 (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Luke 22:14-23:56

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent." And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. 

Blog Reflection

Every year that I write a blog post about Palm Sunday, I begin with the words: "Oh! The fickleness of the human heart."

The joyful reception of Jesus on this day.  The Hosanna's that ring out from them and us during the grand hymn: "All Glory, Laud and Honor."   The celebration of Christ as a King.  Hmm.   Where have we thought of that before?

Here we have another comparison between the Last Sunday after Pentecost, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, and now the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.  A moment of triumph, before we go into a period of horror, death and mourning.  The difference here is, the triumphant mood lasts only up to we enter the Liturgy of the Word.  Then begins the Narrative of the Passion of Christ.  In it's own way, is this not very much like the two faced attitudes of most of us? 

The stories that will be heard this Holy Week leading up to Easter Day, are the stories of all humankind.  In one way, or another.

All of us know what it is to be received warmly by our friends, family and acquaintances.  When we begin a new job, the boss welcomes us.  The receptionist welcomes us. The office manager welcomes us. Our co-workers welcome us. Once the lunch break is over on the second day, suddenly we are everyone's new pest. There is nothing we can do right.  Most if not all who welcomed us are complaining behind our backs. Passing judgement on what kind of a person and/or worker we are. Based on their limited information.

In many ways, are the events of Passion, Palm Sunday not like a young man or woman growing up in a typical American home?  Their parents encourage them.  They push them to become the best they can be at whatever they do. They encourage them in all of their friendships and relationships. Teachers, Pastors, community leaders watch for the perfect person who gets all the best grades in school. Becomes the latest champion on the minor league baseball team. Wins the local spelling bee. Let that young man or woman break the news to those closest to him/her that he/she is attracted to members of the same-sex or thinks he/she may be a transgender person, all the fame and goodness in that guy/girl disappears in a moment.

Let a young girl announce to her father who attends "pro-life" rallies on Good Friday that she is pregnant and her boyfriend took off.  Suddenly, the father who opposes abortion, rather than helping his little girl through the fear and trauma of her situation, kicks her out.  With federal funding being taken from clinics that can help her, job training programs, day care centers, health care programs, not to mention the shame of family and friends, what choices will she have?   What if she was raped and has no recourse over her rapist?

People in our civilized society speak every day of "accepting people as they are."  Yet, there is always something about another person's race, religion, employment situation, health, etc that becomes a reason to push them to aside or treat them differently.  The person that loves others in a very different way, is the person that no one in town wants to know any further.

Holy Week, including today, is about our human relationships.  Much more importantly, about our relationship with God.  Not so much as our relationship with God just in our prayers, fasting and penances which we have engaged in this Lent.  It is our relationship with God as we encounter the Holy One in the person who is different from ourselves.  It is so easy to love God in the silence of our own personal prayers.  It is so difficult to love Jesus in another person.  It takes us so much effort to see others as Christ, Himself.

In The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 71: Mutual Obedience, he writes:

Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all, not only to the abbot but also to one another as brothers [and sisters], since we know that it is by this way of obedience that we go to God. (RB 1980, p.293).

In A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict Esther de Waal writes:

The importance of obedience to God, to authority, and to our brothers and sisters is something that has concerned Benedict throughout the Rule.  Obedience depends on listening so totally and openly to the other that through them we discern the face, the voice of Christ himself.   This is the root of what obedience that we show to one another. (p.229).

In the stories that we will read this Holy Week and the Liturgies we will participate in, we will again be brought face to face with the reality of our humanity.  We will again meet Jesus experiencing human suffering, resentment, bias, injustice, yet accepting God's will through it all, so that by the way of His death on the Cross, there might be the Resurrection. "By his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5 CEB). We will be given the opportunity to again realize what our Baptismal Covenant (see Book of Common Prayer, p.292-294) calls us to with regards to our relationship with God, our neighbor and ourselves.  We will also be confronted with the opportunity to decide if we too are open to obedience to God's will, no matter what it requires of us in the end, or are we just too good to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus? (See Mark 8:34).  Are we willing to wash the feet of Jesus in the person we despise the most?  If we find ourselves on either side of Christ on the Cross, will we mock Him with the thief on one side, or on the other, asking to be received into His kingdom, recognizing that we are sinners and that without the mercy of God in Christ Jesus we have no hope?

Will we as Christians be drowned in antisemitism as Christians read and hear Gospel stories of the Passion that suggest that the Jews are responsible for the death of Christ?  Or will we admit that it was the sins of all of us, including our sins against other religions, including, but not limited to Jews, Muslims and many others by which God loved us so much, that God did not spare God's own Son? (See Romans 8:32 NRSV).

This Holy Week, let us all agree that even though we disagree, that we can look for Jesus not only in our worship and prayers, but also in our relationships with each other.   May we realize that Jesus is working in and through our lives through communities as well as within our individual selves.  May we respond to Him with "not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). 

Prayers

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the
human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to
take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross,
giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant
that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share
in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Collect for Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 219).


Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our
salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation
of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and
immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (From the Service of Palm Sunday, Book of Common Prayer, p.270).


Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Collect for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, p.99).


Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, p.101).