Easter Vigil 2012

We have just ended the 40 days of contemplation of the acts of God, and now tonight we recapitulate those acts again in our readings. The acts of God start with creation, in a world that began in such perfection but devolved into human being humans, but wanting to be God themselves.  God’s acts then turn to redeeming what humans have made dark, giving us the very Light of the World, his son our savior Jesus the Christ.

Again and again, God has given people of faith a second and third and fourth chance, not to be perfect, because that is never possible. What God wants from us is not perfection, not doing everything right, but doing everything with God, not our self, in mind.

Imagine living your life as if God counted highest, steered all our attention to the love and grace in our life? What would the world look like?

The women at the tomb were frightened, and I believe they were frightened not by seeing a young strange man at the tomb of Jesus. I believe they were frightened because they grasped that all that Jesus has been telling them about being the son of God suddenly was shockingly true.  Jesus focused on the divine healing and love, he pointed to it in all his acts with us, brought us an example of what focusing on the divine would look like.

If Jesus, the carpenter’s son, who has been drawing the criticism of the temple authorities, angering the scribes and chief priests, and making them so jealous they had him put to death, if he were really God’s son, what does this say about who God is?  God had redeemed all that happened to Jesus, all the scorn and contempt of the leaders, but all the healing and loving acts were suddenly not just some nice guy who can heal people, but God acting in the lives of people to redeem whatever had gone astray. God had gone looking for the outcasts, the unlovable among the lowliest of people and had raised them up in love. He had sent his son to undergo all we undergo as human beings, even a shameful death on the cross, to show us that God is not only with us, but right in front of our faces in places and people where we don’t expect to encounter the divine presence.

If God can be on the cross and make something new of it, redeem it with life, God can redeem the dead and dying pieces of each of us. God has declared victory over death brought the light of his love to us all.  Alleluia Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen Indeed.