Easter
Vigil Homily By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC, 15 April 2017
Genesis
1:1-2:4a; Exodus 14:10-31, 15:20-21; Ezekiel 36:24-28; Romans 6:3-11;
Psalm 114; Matthew 28:1-10
On
this night of nights, notice what Jesus says:
“Do
not be afraid...”
Jesus
says this to the women who come to the tomb early in the morning. He
says this to you & me. His words have been heard by millions of
Christians on other Easters, including the 44 Christians killed by
suicide bombers in Egypt during Palm Sunday worship this week [April
9].1
May they rest in peace.
These
Christian brothers & sister of ours know the depths of Jesus'
love more deeply than we can imagine. Notice what Paul tells the
Romans & us: Christ,
being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has
dominion over him.
Paul
says all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death & have newness of life, no longer enslaved to sin.
His words complement what we hear from Ezekiel:
the Lord God says,
I will...sprinkle clean water on you,
& you
shall be clean.
Tonight
we have renewed our Baptismal vows & been sprinkled with water.
Even though we are clean, we are human & will make mistakes. When
we do, remember what we hear in Genesis when God creates: God sees
everything
he has made is good – very good. We know Jesus comes to make us &
everything good again – very good.
Remember
what we hear God assure us in our scripture from
Ezekiel:
“A new heart I will give you...
a new spirit I will put
within you...
I will remove from your body the heart of stone
&
give you a heart of flesh.”
As
Christians, we know this is possible because the loving heart of
flesh which beats within Jesus stops beating on the hard wood of the
cross. Jesus' human heart stops beating on Good Friday – the day
that looks awful, the day that declares: God DOES love us & God
redeems us through Jesus' death. Death is not the final
word.
We
celebrate this truth: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will
come again. Jesus'
Resurrection gives us confidence to live in new ways.
Jesus
calls us into a new relationship with God & each other, to live
in holy community. Notice
tonight's Gospel from Matthew repeats details to emphasize the work
we have to do to share
the Good News of Jesus' Resurrection:
- The angel says to the women: "Do not be afraid... Jesus...has been raised...go quickly & tell his disciples."
- They leave with awe & great joy & run to tell the disciples.
- They run into Jesus, who also says, "Do not be afraid”.
- Jesus sends them to go speak to “my brothers”. Now the disciples are more than followers: they are brothers.
You
& I are Jesus' family. We have
Good News to share. Do not be afraid to share it.
In
our Baptismal Vows we have just promised to
proclaim by
word & example the Good News of God in Christ. This Good News
includes what we read in Romans: We are no longer enslaved to sin. We
are no longer trapped in sin. We
promise to proclaim
this with
God’s help.
Proclaim
is an interesting word. It can mean [the dictionary2
says]: “to declare publicly, insistently, proudly in speech or
writing, to praise or glorify openly”. My phone dictionary app also
suggests: “extol: proclaim the rescue worker's efforts”3.
Proclaim
the rescue worker's efforts:
Jesus is
our rescuer.
This concept of the rescuer's efforts reminds me of the
Chilean mining disaster in 2010. You may recall the mine's collapse
kept 33 miners trapped 2,300 feet down in the bowels of the earth for
69 days – Aug. 5-Oct. 13.4
Humans have been trapped in
sin a lot longer. You & I have Good News to proclaim to release
trapped people. As we do this work, I encourage you to continue in
the apostles’ teaching & fellowship, in the breaking of bread &
in the prayers – all with God’s help.
We
do this work with
God.
We
do this work in community.
God
gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us in this rescue work so that our
love may overflow more & more
with
knowledge & full insight
to
help us determine what is best.
Bacon,
Ed. 8 Habits of Love:
Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind.
Boston: Grand Central Life & Style. Hatchette Book Group. 2012.
Dios
Habla Hoy: La Biblia.
2da
Ed.
Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers. 1988.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proclaim.
Accessed: 13 April 2017.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Merriam-Webster.
Smartphone Dictionary app.
Merriam-Webster Inc.
2012. Accessed: 14 April 2014.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press, Incorporated, 1977.
“Suicide
bombers kill 44 at Palm Sunday services in Egypt”. Associated Press
article. Goldsboro
News-Argus. 10 April
2017. P.7A.
Timeline:
Trapped Chilean miners. Accessed: 14 April 2014.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miners.timeline/index.html
1
“Suicide bombers kill 44 at Palm Sunday services in Egypt”.
Associated Press article. Goldsboro
News-Argus. 10 April 2017. P.7A.
4
Timeline:
Trapped Chilean miners.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miners.timeline/index.html.
Accessed: 14 April 2014.
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