Genesis 1:1 – 2:2; Psalm 36:5 – 10; Exodus 14:10 – 15:1;
Canticle 8 (The Song of Moses); 6:3 – 11;
Psalm 114; Matthew 28:1 – 10
This is a homily by Fr.
Gene Tucker, given at St. John's Church in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Saturday
evening, March 26, 2016.
“KNOWING
GOD’S POWER THROUGH EXPERIENCE”
It’s been said that trying
to preach for the major holy days of the Church Year is a difficult assignment.
The reason is that so many of the faithful Christian believers know the basics
of each of the events that are celebrated throughout the year. So what does the
preacher do when the basic storyline is so well known?
This preacher understands
that challenge, having had the cycle of celebrations and observances roll
around, year-after-year, for some years now.
So this year, I’ve decided
to focus on what was different about that first night before Easter morning
after that first Good Friday when we consider all the Easter vigil nights that
have followed in the years since. (This might be my 2016 Holy Week and Easter
theme, for we considered what was the same in the events that took place on
Good Friday, contrasting that with what was different in Jesus’ death from the
other crucifixions that took place in those ancient times.)
Tonight, then, as we stand
with Christians down through the ages in the dim light of candles, waiting for
the Lord’s rising from the tomb early tomorrow morning, let’s focus on what was
different for those early believers on that night before the first Easter
morning from all the other nights before Easter that followed.
To begin, we should put
ourselves in the place of the first disciples following the Lord’s death on
Good Friday.
We know from John’s Gospel
account that they were frightened, for John tells us that they were hiding
behind locked doors out of fear. They were hiding with good reason, I would
suspect, for there was a very strong possibility that the Jewish leaders, or
King Herod, or Pilate, or all three of these, would seek out other leaders of
the movement that Jesus had started, in order to get rid of them in much the
same way they’d gotten rid of Jesus. We must remember that those in power in
those days didn’t hesitate to use that power to crush any and all opposition or
threats to the status quo.
And so they are gathered,
most likely in deep shock at what had happened….their leader was dead, killed
in the most horrible manner possible. The Lord had died the death of a common
criminal, a death that - by Jewish reckoning - meant that He was an especially cursed man. Perhaps
they also felt that there was no hope for the future, and that the way things
had developed as Holy Week went along didn’t meet their expectations for a new
and bright chapter in the history of God’s chosen people.
Despair and hopelessness are
key words, I think, to describe the situation on that first Saturday following
that first Good Friday.
During Jesus’ ministry, God’s
power had been shown in the Lord’s miraculous healings, and in His raising
people from the dead (most recently, in the raising of Lazarus). It was the
experience of God’s power – and not just Jesus’ words alone – that had brought
the Lord’s disciples thus far, and it was the experience of God’s power that
had provided the basis for them to trust in Jesus and in His ministry.
But now the Lord was dead,
totally, completely, absolutely dead. (As someone once said to me, “No one got
off a Roman cross alive.”) Maybe those first disciples wondered if the charge
that was levelled against Jesus as He hung on the cross was really true…after
all, some of them said, “He saved others, himself he cannot save.”
Despair and hopelessness are
what mark the difference between that first night after that first Good Friday
from all the other nights following Good Friday. God’s absolute power over even
death became known, not just in words, but in reality. It was the experience of
the risen Lord on Easter Sunday morning that changed those early disciples’
lives forever. It was the experience of God’s power in being able to see and
touch the risen Lord that galvanized them, giving them the power to go out into
the entire world, carrying the Good News of the immense power of God to conquer
death with life. They did so with such dedication and zeal that many of them
suffered a similar sort of death to the one that their Lord had also
suffered…many became martyrs, such was their dedication to the message of God’s
love and God’s power.
Those early
disciples-become-apostles, those early martyrs, demonstrated their love and
dedication to God not with words alone, but with actions, actions that could be
seen and experienced.
Words are cheap. Words are
plentiful.
But actions demand
dedication. Actions demand that something do something that others can see and
experience.
Words and actions: In order
for us to put our trust in something, to know that it is true and that it is a
fact, these two things, words and actions, must be present. We must experience
something, connecting what we know through words and ideas with an experience
that matches what we’ve come to know.
For most of us, some proof,
something that we can either see or can experience, is an important part of the
process of coming to know that what God has told us is true. We need a basis for
trusting that God is trustworthy. So perhaps we might look for some evidence
that we can see or experience in our own lives, or in the lives of others. Have
we witnessed a healing that cannot be explained except by the power of God?
Have we witnessed a deliverance from some addiction or another? Have we seen
lives turned around in situations where there seemed to be no hope for a new
and brighter tomorrow? All these are indicators of God’s power, a power we can
see and experience.
Now it’s our turn to show by
word and example that the vows we made at our baptisms make a difference in our
lives. Now it’s our turn to show the world around us that we believe what we
profess so much that we are willing to devote ourselves to doing something to
show just how much God has loved us, and just how much God loves each and every
human person.
Thereby, we will fulfill the
baptismal vow which was made at our baptisms: “Will you proclaim by word and
example the Good News of God in Christ?”
Answer: “I will, with God’s help.”
AMEN.
