Easter 2006, April 16. Our Lady of Grace 8:30 Vigil, 9:30, 11:30. Mark 16:1-7.
One of the most famous icons of the Eastern Church pictures Jesus standing over the place where those who had died in the thousands of years before his death and resurrection were waiting for the Messiah to set them free. The Apostles Creed mentions this place of waiting as the descent of Jesus into hell. The icon pictures Jesus taking Adam and Eve by the wrists and literally yanking them out of their tombs. The look on their faces reveals not only their surprise at the sudden appearance of the Messiah, but also a certain reluctance to leave the tomb. Adam and Eve had waited thousands of years for this moment of freedom to come, but now that it was here the artist hints at an unwillingness to leave the familiar and safe surroundings of a tomb that had been their dwelling place for so long. It is often easier to deal with what is familiar than to venture outside beyond our experience to embrace a new way of life, even when that new way of life promises us new freedom and joy.
A baby has to be force through the birth cannel into life in this world. The womb has been safe and familiar. Life outside is uncertain. The path between the womb and the world is filled with pain for both the mother and the child. The passage from our own tombs of weakness, sin and false values is also a painful one for both Christ and for us. Even though the outside world promised new freedom and new possibilities, in our entry into this world each of us had to embrace the agony of birth, a personal cross of suffering, and a resurrection to new life that we don’t even remember.
I know a woman whose husband had been an active alcoholic for 25 years. She spent much of her time caring for him, covering for him and having others feel sorry for her because of the drunkenness of her husband. Then her husband went into treatment and stopped drinking. A return to sobriety gave the husband new freedom, a deep spiritual life and peace for the first time in many years. As the recovering alcoholic took charge of his life again, the life of his wife began to fall apart. He no longer needed her constant care. He no longer needed her to cover for him. And her friends and neighbors no longer felt sorry for here because of her alcoholic husband. Now that her husband was better the woman no longer knew who she was. She had been entombed with an alcoholic husband for 25 years. Now he had risen from the dead and she had to rise with him. Yet, there was a time when she longed to go back to the tomb. Living with a sober husband in a more normal world was not an easy adjustment to make. Living a risen life is not easy. Sometimes remaining in the tomb is the more comfortable choice.
Jesus did not merely come back to life in the same old world with exactly the same human body, only healed and restored to life. Jesus certainly was raised from the dead in his human body, but that body was not resuscitated – that is, it was not merely brought back to same life that it had before. The wounds on his hand and feet glow with divine light and his heart becomes a source of divine, life-giving water for the whole human race. Life beyond the tomb is not just perfect human life, it is fully divine. The life we share in Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist is a life that shares in the love, the mercy and the justice of God. Are we sure that we want the radically new way of life that the Risen Christ pours out on us? Maybe all we want is a little healing or to feel better, at the same time that we continue to live the familiar life of the tomb.
Why do we allow anger and resentment to continue to entomb us if we do not enjoy life in the tomb? Why do we allow selfishness and self-centeredness to continue to cast us into the realm of the dead if we want to live the life of heaven beyond the tomb? Why do we allow lust, greed and a thirst for power and popularity to guide our lives, if we truly want to leave the tomb behind and follow Christ? Is it because life in the tomb has become familiar and even comfortable to us, and we are not yet ready and willing to rise from the dead?
Jesus spoke about life beyond the tomb in giving us the new
law in the Sermon on the Mount. His teaching warns us a about the tomb
encasing those who cling to worldly values. Jesus said, “How blessed
are the poor in sprit. Blessed are those who mourn now. Blessed are
the meek and gentle. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in
heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are
persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Blessed are those who suffer
persecution because of me. Rejoice and be glad for you reward in heaven
will be great.”
St. Francis of
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be
consoled, as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
May we move beyond the earthly tomb that holds us captive and gladly embrace the risen life of Christ. For the courage to Rise with Christ we give God thanks and praise.