Saint Charles' Episcopal Church – Saint Charles, IL

Easter Day – Easter Day (Principal Service) - Year A – RCL

Sunday March 23, 2008 

Jeremiah 31:1-6 – Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 – Acts 10:34-43 – John 20:1-18 

The Rev. William R. Nesbit, Jr.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! After forty days of not being able to say alleluia, I can't say it enough. (Truth to tell, I even let an alleluia slip last week!)

This is my twelfth Easter as a priest and I have to say that every so often, I miss being a lay person a bit. Not that I'm not happy being a priest, I love it. I know this is where I should be. But I miss just sitting in the pew. I miss it because Holy week goes by so quickly when you're on the production end. I don't get to spend much time in the dark. I mean before Good Friday is even over I am already thinking and planning Easter. So as soon as I leave the Good Friday service, BANG! I'm at the resurrection. It's almost like reading the end of a book before the beginning. I really miss coming to church on Easter morning and catching a whiff of the mingled smell of Easter Lilies and incense for the first time and seeing the church miraculously decked out in all its finery after the long desert of Lent.

When you're here the day before for the rehearsal and you see the altar guild scurrying about buffing and polishing and transforming it doesn't seem like such a miracle. Hard work, yes! But not quite a miracle. Why is it that a miracle loses it's punch if you have a hand in making it? When I get here on Easter, I come like Mary ... Oh look, the stone is rolled away and they took the body. Big deal. Others may come running, like I used to do, with the desire to see if it's really true, but I will sit here grumping about my loss. And then God sends me a gardener... who calls me by name. Did you know that this is the only time in the whole Bible that a gardener appears? Other than, perhaps, God in the garden of Eden.

That is what I love so much about the Gospel of John. It doesn't let you get away with anything. No matter who you are, or where you are on your faith journey, there is somebody waiting in this story of Jesus' resurrection for you to identify with. I dare say, each of you heard something this morning that resonated with your soul. Who was it that called your name? Was it Peter, the Rock, or the mysteriously un-named Disciple whom Jesus loves, or perhaps Mary Magdalene, or maybe one of the other disciples waiting behind the closed doors still afraid to come out. Maybe you'll have to wait until next week for Thomas the doubter.

Every time I hear the story I seem to find a new piece of the story speaking to me. I used to think that was because I wasn't always listening as well as I should have been the last time, but then I discovered after listening real hard, and even taking a course at seminary, that that is the point. John opens his Gospel with "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" and ends it with "But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." These words in this book are wondrous indeed, but the Word cannot be contained in them. Over and over again John hammers the point home -- God is uncontainable.

In the weeks ahead we will see Jesus appear to his disciples multiple times. And each time, like Mary, they will not notice who He really is. They will not recognize because He will come in many guises. That too is a point that John stresses. We are a people of the resurrection. An Easter People. We who have known God in a limited way need to constantly remind ourselves of the obvious. Though our knowledge of God is limited by our humanity, God has no limits. God cannot be nailed down, cannot be locked in a tomb, or bound in a book. The resurrection isn't something that just happened a long time ago, it is something that happens all the time. Just about the time we think we know Jesus, he leaps up and away, ahead of us. And no matter how much we want to cling to the Jesus we know, he gently moves on, beckoning us to follow.

If we are strong enough to let go Jesus leads us to a higher place. Every time! If we are not, we end up dragging Christ to the cross - again. And nailing Him there - again. And He dies - again. And we seal Him in the tomb - again. And He rises - again.....in spite of us. For us. And we learn again the hard way that Jesus is not the same Jesus we knew yesterday. And never will be. And that's OK because the same is true of us as well. For if we are to truly be an Easter people, then we too have a passion to face. We too must die to sin so that we can be raised to the new life in Christ.

Today is the day. It is our day of victory. The day when we know in our heart the strife is o'er, when the word "Rabbouni!" leaps from our lips. Other struggles lie ahead, but leave them for tomorrow. Today is our dancing day, our day of joy. Celebrate today and remember Christ died for you and rose again for you. Because he loves you. He is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia! Alleluia!