Easter: In the Silence of God

Christ is Risen.  Alleluia.

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles contains the essential message of the Christian faith.  John the Baptist prepared the way; Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed; he was put to death on a cross; he rose from the dead; he appeared to the faithful; he sent the disciples out to preach good news; he will come in glory to judge the living and the dead; he is the one the prophets expected; belief in him will mean salvation and forgiveness of sins.  This is it, from beginning to end.  It is now up to us to live our lives faithfully in response to this good news.

The theologian Richard Niebuhr said that in teaching theology he told his students:  "What you come to believe, what you come to love, will lead you to the future; and by those beliefs and loves you will build the future." 

“Believing is the path of love, and to love is to cooperate in creating that which is lovely, that which is good and overflows…. To create is our highest dignity.  Creating is our means of liberating, of setting free what is potential and bestowing actuality upon it.  We create one another;…we bring life where death reigned."

The resurrection of Christ brings life where death reigned.  When it comes to believing in the resurrection of Jesus we encounter the most radical event in human history.  Jesus, who died on a cross, was buried in a tomb, and then raised on the third day: how are we to believe in this?  In the Gospel of John Mary Magdalene used common sense to conclude that the body of the crucified Jesus had been moved.  She had gone to the tomb to add more aromatic spices to Jesus' body but she saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.  

Peter and the other disciple challenged each other in their attempt to verify what Mary told them, "they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."  Peter and the other disciple went into the tomb, saw and believed, but "they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead."  This remarkable story reminds us that believing the resurrection is a matter of faith; it is not a matter of reason.  There is no objective proof.

The gospels were written by Jesus’ followers during the months and years after his death and resurrection.  The evangelists’ main concern was to preach the 'good news' of Jesus Christ.  There were no witnesses to the Resurrection.  Ignatius of Antioch wrote in the first century, “Jesus rose in the silence of God.”  There were no witnesses and the New Testament writers do not describe what or how it happened.

Some biblical scholars have pointed out that a tradition in Hebrew Scriptures "helps to explain what the first Christians saw in Christ's resurrection....'The Glory of Yahweh' -- meaning the divine presence -- appeared at key moments and places in Jewish history; in the Exodus cloud at Mount Sinai, and over the temple, among others.... For the early Christians the Resurrection was another of those moments....The Risen Christ, the Glory of Yahweh was made manifest in a new and unexpected way.  It revealed the dawn of a 'new creation' -- the church -- and a new hope, that 'in Christ everyone could reliably expect his or her own resurrection from the dead."

Death and resurrection are mysteries.  Jesus rising from the dead is a statement of Christian faith and hope.  Together, death and resurrection is a bond of trust between those who live in the presence of Christ and those early followers of Jesus centuries ago.

To live in the presence of Christ today is to stand in the shadow of the cross and all the suffering and death experienced during Holy Week.  Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry has said that in the shadow of the cross we are in the shadow of those who have been killed in Brussels, of those who have been wounded and maimed, of those who weep and mourn.  It is a world in mourning, and not too sure how to move forward. 

The meaning and impact of the stories of death and resurrection make it clear that God's love, God's life, is to be proclaimed and shared.  Death and resurrection are mysteries we can never fully understand.  By proclaiming and sharing God's love with others we can bring life where death has reigned.  Richard Niebuhr's maxim is true:  "What you and I come to believe, what we come to love, leads us into the future; and by those beliefs and loves we build the future."  So today we come to the empty tomb.  Jesus is not there.  Christ is risen, risen into the glory that binds us all together in faith and hope for our future.  Christ is risen!  Alleluia.  Happy Easter.