EASTER (B)

Do not be amazed! – Mark 16: 6

   There is no created phenomenon as startling as human life, but to be an authentic homo sapiens, one must be a saint. Holy people are the most near perfect examples of humanity. They define what it means to be human. The loss of holiness is inhumanity. Sanctity is the normal human condition.

   There is a popular misconception that sinfulness is normal & holiness is abnormal, but that is not the case.  It is simply unusual in the same sense that the sinful state is not normal but simply usual. Saints exist because the one perfect man who had been killed in a very bloody way rose from the dead. This wasn’t resuscitation, but a new form of life. Those who had known Jesus very well could not recognize Him at first after the resurrection. Yet however He had changed, His presence caused deep joy. Thomas could not believe it, so Jesus took time out from eternity to convince this one man. He could have spent the time before the Ascension convincing His enemies where they went wrong, but in His unfathomable graciousness Jesus let one skeptic touch Him. It is not the way any God of our invention would behave. Only a toy God would have spent those days wiping out malaria or illiteracy.

   In His resurrected glory Jesus chose to love people rather than reform them. That is the kind of God we could enjoy spending eternity with. If the way we usually conceive of eternity is uninspiring & dull, it is a reflection of ourselves, our own souls. Those who experienced the resurrection reacted with joy because they had seen the possible future for their own souls, something vital & full of life. For the first time, the heaven of God & the joy of the saints are not beyond reality. It is reality in its completed form. The only fresh air in all of creation was the air inside the sealed tomb. Sin & death are unnatural & can be conquered. God & life are natural & cannot be destroyed. This is why we consider Easter to be the fulcrum of our lives & so important. It makes all the difference between a dull & boring existence & a radiant one.  Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!  AMEN!