Easter Homily, Bishop Marianne Budde

 

Bishop Budde breaks open the Word of God for us. She does a really fine job with the otherness of the resurrection and the style of the narrative. Of course she balances this with a wonderful treatment of God's new presence in our everyday world! Finally, she treats the center of our Easter Hope. I hope you enjoy this!

Alleluia! He is Risen!! Alleluia, Alleluia!!

Christ is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!!! All good wishes for a wonderful Easter Season!!

For the next 50 days, we have time to attend in a more focused way than we might otherwise do, to what Jesus' death and resurrection changed. In light of these events, we live in a different world than existed before they occurred, and we ourselves, by virtue of our Baptism into Christ's death, are new creations as well. While all this makes beautiful poetry, and although, as John Ciardi once reminded us, poetry can save us in dark alleys, we do not base our lives on poetry alone. Objective reality was transformed with Jesus' passion and death; something astounding, universal, even cosmic in scope, happened in these events, which not only had to do with our own salvation, but with the recreation of all of reality and our promise of an unimagined future for it. One of Paul's shorthand phrases for this transformation was "the death of [godless] death," something I hope to be able to look at a bit more as these 50 days unfold. We have already begun to see what happens in our Church as Christ's own life begins to shine forth more brightly in a myriad of small but significant ways because of synodality, for instance. Not least is the figure of Francis, and his continuing recovery from his recent illness, which has many of us singing a heartfelt alleluia in gratitude to the God of Life.

Still, it is probably good to recall that the early Church struggled to make sense of the cross, and that faith in resurrection took some time to take hold. (Today's lection from the Gospel of John makes that clear all by itself!) Surprisingly, no single theology of the cross is held as official, and variations --- many quite destructive --- exist throughout the Church. Even today, a number of these mistakenly affirm that, in various ways, God was reconciled to us rather than the other way around. Only over time did the Church embrace Jesus as risen, and then come to terms with the scandalous death of Jesus, and so, knew him as the Christ who exhaustively reveals God's own power in weakness. Only over time did she come to understand how different the world is for those who are baptized into Jesus' death. It is a lesson we are still learning, each of us, as we grow in faith. Thus, each year the Church offers us a more focused time to come to understand and embrace all of this more fully; the time from Easter Sunday through Pentecost is, in part, geared to this.

But today is a day of unqualified celebration, and a day to simply allow the shock and sadness of the cross to be completely relieved for the moment. Lent is over, the Triduum has reached a joyful climax, the season of Easter has begun, and we once again sing alleluia at our liturgies. The question raised in my last post has been answered, and, startling though this may be, Jesus, precisely as the Crucified One, is God's Messiah, his anointed One, his only begotten Son. Though it will take time to fully understand and embrace all this means, through the Church's liturgies and Scriptures especially, we do sense that we now live in a world where both death and life have a different character and meaning than they did before Christ's resurrection. On this day, darkness has given way to light, and senselessness to meaning -- even though we may not really be able to explain to ourselves or others exactly why or how that is so. On this day, we proclaim that Christ is risen! Sinful death could not hold him, nor can it hold us as a result. Alleluia! Alleluia!!

Beginning the Easter Season: First steps into a Life of Hope

Christ is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!!! All good wishes for a wonderful Easter Season!!

For the next 50 days, we have time to attend to what Jesus' death and resurrection changed. In light of these events we live in a different world than existed before they occurred, and we ourselves, by virtue of our Baptism into Christ's death, are new creations as well. We have been embraced by God and live as God's daughters and sons, heirs of the inheritance he grants us. While all this makes beautiful poetry, it is also all true in the profound ways the very best poetry is true. Objective reality was transformed with Jesus' passion and death; something astounding, universal, even cosmic in scope, happened in these events which had to do with our own salvation and the recreation of all of reality. One of Paul's shorthand phrases for this transformation was "the death of death," something I hope to be able to look at a bit more as these 50 days unfold. Especially, I would like to look at the way we have become an integral part of God's story, the story of his will to bestow himself on and dwell with the whole of creation. 

At this point, it is probably good to recall that the early Church struggled to make sense of the cross, and that faith in Jesus' resurrection took some time to take hold --- though amongst the disciples, that period is greatly abbreviated. Surprisingly, no single theology of the cross is held as official even today, and variations --- many quite destructive --- exist throughout the Church. Many of these mistakenly affirm that God was reconciled to us in various ways rather than the other way around. Only in time did the Church come to terms with the scandalous death of Jesus and embrace him as risen, and so, they came to see him as the Christ who paradoxically reveals God's power in weakness. Only in time did she come to understand how different the world now was for those who had been baptized into Jesus' death, and even more time was required before she began to understand the cross in light of an unfinished and evolving universe. This last shift in understanding, though responding to new scientific knowledge of the world in which we live, is entirely consistent with Paul's and Mark's theologies of the cross. The Church offers us a dedicated period to come to understand and embrace all of this meaning; the time from Easter Sunday through Pentecost is, at least partly, geared to this.

Today is a day of celebration. It is a day we begin to allow hope to take greater hold of our hearts. Lent is over, the Triduum has reached a joyful climax, the season of Easter has begun and once again we sing alleluia at our liturgies. Jesus is revealed as Israel's Messiah and the sanest man who has ever lived. Though it will take time to fully understand and embrace all this means, through the Church's liturgies and the readings we have heard, we do sense that we now live in a world where both death and life have a different character and meaning than they did before Christ's passion and resurrection. On this day we call Easter, darkness has given way to light, and senselessness to meaning -- even though we may not really be able to explain to ourselves or others exactly why or how. On this day we proclaim that Christ is risen and begin our first steps into a life rooted in hope! Sinful death could not hold Jesus nor can it hold us as a result. Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Indeed he is risen!! Alleluia, alleluia!!