Made for Eternal Life 3/31/18 The Rev. David M. Stoddart

The Great Vigil of Easter

13.8 billion years ago, in an explosion of light and unimaginable energy, the universe as we know it came into existence. About 9.3 billion years later, some of the raw elements from that big bang coalesced to form the planet Earth. Within a billion years of that event, the first single-celled life forms emerged. It took a long time, but some 200 million years ago the earliest mammals began walking the earth. Over the ages, life evolved and developed until the homo sapiens appeared about 200,000 years ago. Our ancient ancestors went through some remarkable changes, intellectually, socially, and spiritually, and it was roughly 3,800 years ago when a man named Abram left his home in Haran and eventually settled in a land called Canaan. His descendants, the people of Israel, escaped slavery in Egypt roughly 600 years or so later and entered into a covenant with the LORD whose name they would not even pronounce. They reached a high point some three thousand years ago when David was crowned king, but they faltered in the years after that, struggling in their political life and foundering in their relationship with God. Prophets arose, and for centuries they admonished, chastised, encouraged, and pleaded until finally, in kairos, the fullness of time, Jesus of Nazareth was born — almost 2,000 years after God called Abraham, and billions of years after the Holy One said, Let there be light.

Tonight we built our fire and sat in the darkness illumined by candle flames while we let our minds stretch back into the depths of time. It is an amazing story, and we heard just tiny snippets of it, but enough to remind us that it is all connected, all part of a greater narrative. And because we are people of faith, we recognize that it is a meaning-full story, the work of a God whose love, patience, and sheer persistence stagger the imagination. And both the Book of Scripture and the Book of Nature make it plain that this God is all about life. From the very beginning, God intended life. And from the very beginning, God intended us: beings who could consciously share with God in the joy of being alive and being part of this amazing story. And more than just share in it, but love it, and love each other, and love God, whose love is the beginning and the end of everything. And the story makes equally clear that God will not let anything ultimately prevent us from experiencing the fullness of life and love which God intends for us, a point driven home in all our readings tonight, a truth so beautifully expressed in Paul’s letter to the Romans when he writes: 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 (Rom. 8:38-39).

The resurrection of Jesus we celebrate tonight is not some kind of miraculous aberration, a dramatic departure from the big plan: it has been the plan all along. As surely as God was going to live and die as one of us to shatter any sense of separation, so surely that God was going to overcome death itself. Jesus confirms what the prophets of Israel had long begun to believe and trust in: that God’s love is forever, and we are made for eternal life. If I may borrow a phrase from Martin Luther King, the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward resurrection.

And it’s still bending. The divine energy that led inexorably to the Incarnation and the Resurrection has not faded. The love which powered the story through to the empty tomb has not diminished. Did you listen to those readings?  God does not grow tired. The story we heard tonight goes on, and the evolving, forward-thrusting nature of that story is reflected in the poignant interchange between Mary Magdalene and Jesus in our Gospel. When she finally realizes it’s him, she reaches out to hold him — but he won’t let her. That was appropriate earlier in the story, during his earthly ministry, but now the plot has expanded. Jesus is no longer just the loving Lord who is available to those who are physically close enough to see and touch him: he is now the Risen Christ, whose love will now be available to everyone everywhere every moment through His Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit of God.

So our task is not to linger at the empty tomb. The story moves on, and so do we. And Paul reminds us tonight of our joyful mission: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; the death he died, he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:9-11). The essence of sin is separation from God, but we are not separate. The Spirit of the Risen Christ lives in us now and forever. Not even death can separate us from God. So our job is to live accordingly, to live like we actually believe that. So think with me here. What crippling fear could we let go of, like the fear of failure or the fear of death? We share in the risen life of Jesus: we don’t need to be afraid of these things. Or what crushing burdens could we let go of, like the burden of having to prove ourselves or make ourselves look perfect? We are living the resurrection from the dead: we don’t need to carry those burdens. Or how could we let love flow through us more freely and more generously? We don’t need to be stingy: we can take risks and give ourselves away, because we have the Spirit of the Risen Lord in us, who never grows weary and who never gives up. Can you think of one new way you will consider yourself alive to God in Christ, one new way that you will let the Resurrection of Jesus actually change your life? Surely each one of us can do that. And why not?

We are about to celebrate the mysteries of the Holy Eucharist, the very presence of the Risen Christ among us and within us. And then we’ll go into the Parish Hall and drink our champagne or sparkling cider and celebrate. And then tomorrow, we will carry on the celebration — as resurrection people. Because the Great Story keeps going, and we’re part of it. So be part of it — and live like the joy has already begun, and the best is yet to be.