Rejoice and Sing

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

This is a day to rejoice and sing.  Christ is risen!

It is the most amazing event of all time.  In the churches that celebrate the Easter Vigil on Saturday night, the Exsultet is often sung: 

“Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels, and

               let your trumpets shout Salvation for the victory of our

              mighty King.

Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth, bright with

               glorious splendor, for darkness has been vanquished by

               our eternal King.

Rejoice and be glad now,… and let your holy courts, in

               radiant light, resound with praises of your people.”

Rejoice and sing for Christ is risen.  Jesus died a cruel death by crucifixion.  He was buried in a tomb, and then, as the Gospel of Luke recounts what happened:  “On the first day of the week the women found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven.  Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.  But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.”  It is time to rejoice and sing.

The women were obviously perplexed and terrified by what they had witnessed: an empty tomb.  Who wouldn’t be?   They returned to tell the eleven disciples what they had observed.  "He is not here but has risen!"

Luke reminds us that while Jesus was still in Galilee, and before he entered the city of Jerusalem, he told the disciples that he would be killed and on the third day he would rise again.  He also spoke about his ministry: The Spirit of the Lord was upon him because he was anointed “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 

When the women returned from the tomb with word that the stone had been rolled away, one would think the disciples would believe them.  Instead the news seemed to be, as Luke states, “an idle tale, and they did not believe.”

Was this news just too scary, terrifying, and amazing?  Were the disciples in a state of shock when they heard what the women had to tell them?  How were they to make sense out of what they were hearing?  They reacted, as almost anyone would, in disbelief. 

The resurrection is an amazing and mysterious event.  It is hard for us to understand because it defies logical reasoning.  It cannot be seen or touched, and it is not something that can be scientifically proven.  Yet it forms the very bedrock of our Christian faith.  Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.  Let us rejoice and sing.

Throughout human history God was and is faithful to his people, and in spite of all that happened as a result of idolatry, violence, neglect, and apathy, God in and through the resurrection of Christ has defeated death forever.  The disciples reacted in disbelief.  If we are honest we do not understand it either.  The resurrection is something that had never occurred before.  It happened only once; it is unique and beyond the realm of our human experience, and it is at the core of what it means to be a Christian.  It is the reality of new life overcoming death and the grave.

Our Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, writes in her Easter message, “Rejoice, rejoice and sing, rejoice and be glad… for earth and heaven are joined and humanity is reconciled to God!

“As the Lenten season ends in Easter rejoicing, … There is a deep hunger in our collective psyche to re-orient our lives toward life and light, healing and peace.  We share a holy hunger for clarity about what is good and life-giving, and we yearn to re-focus on what is most central and important….

“Easter celebrates the victory of light and life over darkness and death…. We are released from the bonds of self-obsession, addiction, and whatever would steal away the radical freedom of God-with-us.  Our lives re-center in what is most holy and creative, the new thing God is continually doing in our midst….

“ Christ is risen, death is vanquished, humanity is restored to holy and creative relationship with God’s ongoing and eternal liveliness.” 

Good friends, the liveliness we see all around us is much more than the birth of Spring with flowers and plants about to bloom, the grass turning green and leaves bursting forth on the trees.  The liveliness we see is our participation in the fullness of God.  The liveliness we see is whenever and wherever the hungry are fed, the oppressed are liberated, the sick are healed, and the bereaved are comforted.  The liveliness we see is whenever and wherever war is ended, peace and justice are restored, and natural resources are protected.  The liveliness we see is whenever and wherever people care for others more than they care for themselves, where diversity is honored, religious difference is respected, and the dignity of every human being is affirmed.

Our amazement has to do with what the disciples were sent to achieve.  They were sent to carry on God’s work of salvation for all people.  You and I are now sent to continue this work of compassion and hope for everyone.

Alleluia.  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Rejoice and sing. Alleluia!  Amen.