Easter Sunday.  April 24, 2011.  Our Lady of Grace 8:30Vigil and 9:30 Easter Day.  Acts 10:34a, 37-43.  I Corinthians 5:6b-8.  Matthew 28: 1-10.

Sometimes we have to hurt a lot before we discover the meaning of life.  Sometimes we have to feel the pain of emptiness – like being an empty tomb ourselves – before we can recognize the Risen Christ.  Meeting the Risen Christ is a deep and powerful experience that Jesus transforms us to the very core of our being.  The women who came to visit the tomb of Jesus on the first Easter morning had just stood at the foot of the cross and watched his violent death.  They were so totally devastated by the experience that the very foundation of their lives was shaken.  Everything that they believed in and hoped for had turned to dust and ashes.  They came to the tomb to weep over their lost friend and their shattered hopes and dreams. Their emptiness became the golden doorway through which the Risen Jesus entered their lives.   Jesus had said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for the Kingdom of God is theirs.”  Jesus had taught that it is very difficult for a person who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. The wealth that Jesus is talking about involves much more than material things.   In fact with a proper attitude wealth can be a great gift that builds up the kingdom of God. 

The very hardest possessions to let go of are our own point of view, wishes, desires and our willfulness.  Even though freedom and intelligence are among God’s greatest gifts to us, the devil often uses our best gifts to make us blind to the kingdom of God. Anchored firmly in our own opinion we may be trapped in a world that is too small to see God and too self-centered to follow Jesus.  In the extreme, our world may become so small that we are unable to love anyone but ourselves.  This self absorbed and obsessed state is what we call Hell.

St. Paul tells us that the crucified Jesus is the wisdom of God and the power of God.   Why did Jesus die on the cross?   Jesus died to shake us up.  Jesus died to teach us that total self-gift – not selfishness – is the way to peace, fulfillment and joy in our own hearts and in our world. The crucifixion of Jesus is like a giant earthquake and tsunami that shakes the very foundation of the ground on which we stand.  The total self-gift of Jesus shatters the values of the world in which we too easily live, do business and find security.  We are called to be a new creation by the grace of our baptism.  We are called to transform the world in which we live by the power of the Eucharist.   Baptism and the Eucharist remain largely powerless within us until we break free of the attitudes and values that keep us from seeing and living the kingdom of God.

Jesus died on the cross to show us that the fulfillment of human life is the complete gift of self to God and to others.   The women who approach the tomb of Jesus on the first Easter morning were so badly shaken by the crucifixion of Jesus that they were ready to meet Jesus in a new way – as the Risen Christ. . An angel of the Lord said to the women, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.  He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.” Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed.  And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.  They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.  Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The risen Christ the women met that first Easter morning was much more than the Jesus they had previously known.  He had passed through the transforming experience of self-giving love on the cross. Jesus was not resuscitated and simply brought back to life again, even though that would be a great miracle in itself.  Jesus rose from the dead completely transformed. His body was completely changed by the fire of self-giving love.  His human body became the fountain of life and love for the whole human race.  When we meet Jesus in baptism and the Eucharist we become more than good human beings; we begin a life-long process of being transformed into the image of Jesus crucified and risen.  We become the image of God’s self-giving, healing and saving love in the world.  We are called to be saints.

Today we join the women at the tomb in thanking God for the things that shake us up and leave us feeling empty, powerless and unhappy.  Through the little and big difficulties, tragedies and challenges of daily life Jesus is calling us to dig deeper and reach higher as we recognize, even for the first time, the power of the risen Christ in our lives. Perhaps this is the year that the Risen Christ will enter our lives in a more personal and powerful way.

Please join me in singing page 468 Verse 2.

Spirit of truth within me,

Possess my thought and mind;

Lighten anew the inward eye

By Satan rendered blind:

Shine on the words that wisdom speaks

And grant me pow'r to see

The truth made known to all in Christ,

And in that truth be free

May this Easter Day be filled with the joy of meeting and welcoming the Risen Christ and following him always.