A homily by: Fr. Gene Tucker
Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 4, 2010
Acts 10:34–43; Psalm 118:14–17, 22–24; Colossians 3:1–4; Luke 24:1–10
Ever stop to think about the enormous power that a dead man (or woman) has?
(Yes, I know, this seems to be a very unusual question to pose on Easter Sunday! But, bear with me, and hopefully, it will make some sense.)
A dead man (or woman) is impervious to all of life’s temptations. Money, power, or pleasure, all of these things that might tempt us, or which might threaten to take over our lives, all of them have absolutely no power over a dead person, none at all.
A dead man (or woman) is also impervious to the pain and disappointments of life. There is a barrier which makes it impossible for these things to further threaten. Perhaps that’s why we use the phrase, “rest in peace”.
A dead man (or woman) has enormous power, if they were able to leave a legacy of teachings or writings behind. Consider the enormous impact that some of our great writers and thinkers have had, years after their deaths, sometimes even centuries after their passing.
Jesus has all the power of a dead man. No temptations that money, power, or pleasure might represent constitute any threat to Him at all.
Jesus has all the power of a dead man. He is impervious to pain, He is impervious to disappointment.
And yet, He is alive!
He still bears the marks of the nails and the spear wound in His side. But these things have lost their power to threaten and to kill.
His is the power of a dead man, come back to life. So, we might say, Jesus has all the power of a dead man, and all the power of a living being. Right you are!
You and I can have the power of a dead man or woman or child.
It is the power that Jesus Christ wants to give to us. For, you see, He wants to deliver us from the tyranny of the temptations that would overwhelm us. He wants to deliver us from the pain and the disappointments that life can throw our way. He wants to surround us with His love, guaranteeing that His resurrection is the down payment on a new life, and eternal life.
Put another and better way, in Holy Scripture we hear these ideas expressed this way:
- Dead to sin and alive to God: Writing about the effects of baptism, St. Paul says this: “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6: 11)
- Losing and gaining one’s life: Jesus leaves us an enormous legacy of teaching, which retains its power and authority, nearly 2,000 years after He spoke to us. Here, we attempt to grasp the reality of the mystery of losing one’s life and gaining it: “In any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.” (Luke 9: 23 – 24)
So, you may ask, “How do I obtain the power of a dead man, woman or child?”
Simply this way: By accepting the power of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, which we accept by faith. In so doing, we become heirs of all the promises that God made in Christ. We claim the power of our baptisms, by which we have died to the world, and to all of the world’s temptations, power, and pain. And, we receive this new life as a down payment on the life of the world to come, life in God’s presence forevermore. (See Romans 6: 3 – 11.)
A dead man, woman or child has enormous power, you see. A man, woman or child who has died to the world lives to God. He or she has passed from death to life, through the power of Jesus’ resurrection.
Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
