Homily:
Easter Sunday – Cycle B
Friends,
if you couldn’t tell by the way the church is decorated, by the vestments that
I am wearing or by the festive music that we are singing, today is a great day
of rejoicing. Christ the Lord is risen
from the dead; and for this we rejoice. Yet, there is a great truth, hidden beneath
the surface of this reason for our celebration, that should add depth of joy to
our celebration, and it is this: that the way to the resurrection is through
suffering.
Most
of us, perhaps, live relatively comfortable lives. We have places to live, clothes to wear, food
to eat, a job that provides for us (or parents who have jobs that provide for
us). We have family and friends that
support us and add joy to our lives. Nevertheless,
if we’ve lived long enough, we realize that even those comforts that we enjoy
haven’t kept suffering completely out of our lives. Rather, we have all experienced suffering in
some way. We’ve lost loved ones through
death and we’ve watched loved ones suffer; we’ve been hurt by those closest to
us: our spouses, our family members (perhaps even our own children), and our
friends; we’ve lost jobs (or, perhaps, failed to get the job that would help us
fulfill our dreams). In these and countless
other ways, suffering has touched each of our lives.
Suffering,
for many people, is a thing of despair; and if we think about it even for a
little bit, we can see why. We
instinctively know that our life spans are limited; and so if suffering becomes
too great a part of it, we begin to despair that there is any hope of enjoying
this life that we have been given. For
those for whom daily suffering is intense, this lack of hope can be stifling:
leading them to isolate themselves from the world and, in some cases, to
contemplate ending their own lives (for, they believe, to end their lives would
finally bring an end to their suffering).
This
is why today’s celebration—the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—is such
good news: because not only has Jesus redeemed us from the punishment due to
sin, but he has opened for us a life beyond suffering: one into which we enter
precisely through suffering. Yes, Jesus’
resurrection is a thing of wonder and awe; but it would be much different if he
had lived a comfortable and full life and died at a ripe-old age of natural
causes, wouldn’t it? We’d certainly be
overjoyed to see him again, but would it truly be the victory we’d hoped
for? No, Jesus’ resurrection holds such
great power because it comes precisely after he suffered horrendously: that he,
the only truly innocent man ever to live, suffered the full brunt of evil that
the world could produce and defeated it by rising from the dead. In doing so, he demonstrates for us that
suffering in this world is not meaningless; but rather that, when it is accepted
and endured in innocence of heart, for the love of God and our neighbor, it
will speed us along the path that leads to the life beyond suffering that Jesus
has opened for us.
This
is so important to say in today’s world: and why? Well, because it wasn’t enough for Jesus to
be a “good person” throughout his life—one who tries not to hurt others and
otherwise doesn’t create problems—and then to die of natural causes only to be
raised again. Rather, he had to contend
with this world—and the evil-inflicted suffering within it—in order to open for
us the way to a life beyond suffering. Notice,
that this contention wasn’t to push suffering down and overcome it by his
cunning or his power; but rather to stay pure within it, so as to show that
even the worst suffering that the evil in this world can inflict is no match
for the power of God.
My
friends, we do not proclaim an easy salvation.
Rather, we proclaim a salvation won for us through suffering: a
salvation in which we participate through suffering. And this, as I’ve said, is the great truth
hidden beneath the surface of today’s celebration: that if we embrace the
sufferings that come to us in this life—the daily sufferings that we experience
because of our sins and simply because this world is broken, and most especially
the sufferings that come to us precisely because we are disciples of Jesus—then
we are uniting ourselves more perfectly to Christ in his suffering. And when we are united to Christ in his suffering,
then we will also be united to him in the fruits of his suffering: the new life
beyond suffering that he has opened for us.
Friends,
this is why we have taken on voluntary suffering for the last forty days: to
remind us that suffering in this world is not to be avoided at all costs, but rather
that, when embraced for love of God and our neighbor, suffering unites us more
perfectly to Christ and, thus, prepares us to experience the resurrection with
him. If you have spent these forty days
well, then by all means celebrate in praise and thanksgiving for the grace of
God that has worked within you. And if
you haven’t spent these days well, then you, too, should rejoice: because the fruits
of the resurrection of Christ are not just for those who can claim “victory” at
the end of these forty days, but rather it is for everyone who still struggles
to live the life that God has called them to live. For these I say, “God is on your side! Continue to struggle and you will find grace
to overcome. Your faith will be evident
in the struggle, and by faith the life beyond suffering which Christ has opened
for us will be yours!”
This
truth couldn’t be more evident to us than here in this Mass: in which we offer
back to God the perfect sacrifice of his Son in thanksgiving for the salvation
that his suffering won for us.
Therefore, let us put our whole hearts into this offering: for Christ is
risen and we have life in him.
Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – April 1st,
2018
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