Sermons

Apr 16 - The Rev. Brian C. Taylor - Easter Sunday

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Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006
The Rev. Brian C. Taylor

One of the things that sets humans apart from other species is our drive towards fulfillment. I imagine that my cats are content being exactly the way they are; they don’t seem to strive for much of anything, except a warm, comfortable place to nap. Sometimes I envy them.

But we humans are a restless lot. There is a thirst within us to become personally happier, healthier, more successful. And we’re constantly challenging one another to fulfill our social potential, as well: our medical care and economy, our response to poverty and disaster.

Those of us who are spiritually inclined seek fulfillment too. As St. Augustine prayed, You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Jesus said Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Every religious tradition has its own vision of fulfillment. For the Buddhist and Hindu, it is enlightenment. For the Jew, it is righteousness. For the Muslim, it is perfect submission to God. For the Christian, it is resurrection.

Today is the highest feast day in our tradition. Christ rose from the dead, and we dare to say that in this triumph, everything is changed. The believer is raised up with Christ and set free from every bond. We go so far as to say that death, evil, and hell are overcome, and all creation is made new.

But promises and visions of glory aren’t really enough, are they? What good are the Alleluias of Easter in the face of reality? After all, we seem to be careening perilously towards environmental disaster, devastating pandemics, a widening gulf between the haves and the have-nots, and intractable political polarization. We’re becoming more and more accepting of the horror of war, as if it were an unpleasant but necessary part of life. And personally, we sometimes wonder if we’ll ever find fulfillment. Will we ever be able to slow down enough to know peace of mind? Will we move out of habitual tedium, into the inner freedom and joy that we long for?

So what difference does Christ’s resurrection really make? How can it help us to move towards personal and global fulfillment?

For the follower of Jesus, the resurrection is a no-nonsense call to become a new person, and by becoming a new person, to change the world around us. Our claim of resurrection life is not just some vague pious fantasy; it is a practical means of personal and social transformation and fulfillment. This happens by identifying ourselves with Jesus, by taking on his point of view, by becoming, in some measure, like him. This is our hope: that we can live in the Spirit of Christ, and that we can then spread his Spirit out into the world.

After Jesus died, his friends experienced something remarkably powerful, dramatically life-changing. He was alive again; he was with them. We don’t know exactly how this happened, and it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that they knew that he was among them, and by remaining in an intimate relationship with him, their lives were changed.

Old patterns dropped away like dead skin: fear, addiction, hatred, raw ambition, indifference to the poor, despair, self-indulgence, and superficiality. A new life emerged, one remarkably like the Risen One. They began to resemble him, as they lived in relationship with him. Their resurrected life was marked by hope, compassion for those in poverty and misery, connection to spiritual community, a thirst for justice, forgiveness, and a joy in life that arises naturally out of complete trust in God. They were resurrected with their friend, Jesus.

Many years ago when one of my sons was a teenager, he had the remarkable maturity to take a hard look at the kinds of friends he had surrounded himself with. They were going nowhere. All on his own, he understood that if he remained in companionship with them, he, too, would go nowhere. They would go there together! And amazingly, he broke off those friendships, enduring a period of isolation until he could make new attachments with healthier, livelier friends. He became a different person.

We become like those with whom we associate. Christians are invited to associate closely with the Risen Christ. He is here, now, always ready to be our companion. Are you drawn to his way of life, his simple wisdom, his mercy, and the delight he carries with him? Are you drawn to his stance towards the world around him, his courage to be true to God, no matter what? Do his words reach into your heart and speak to your deepest self? Is he the kind of person you want to become?

Then associate with him, not just in the abstract, but in reality. Attend to this relationship as closely as you do other relationships that really matter to you. Wake up to Jesus’ real presence in this sacrament, to his Body and Blood which you are about to take into your body and blood. Invite him each morning to walk with you through your day. Dust off that New Testament – I’ll bet he has something new to say to you today, something you’ve never really heard. Trust him, and do what he asks you to do. Pray to him. Read books about him. Associate with his friends, with those whom Jesus seems to have influenced.

In companionship with him, you will not only find the personal fulfillment you long for; you will be moved to adopt his stance towards others around you, and you will be a blessing to this broken and needy world that also longs for fulfillment.

This morning at the Great Vigil we baptized two women from our New Member Class. They came to the waters of baptism to begin a relationship with the Risen One. We washed them and anointed them with oil, telling them quite plainly You are now marked as Christ’s own forever.

If we attend to this relationship with Jesus, if we are as committed to this relationship as we are to other relationships we care deeply about, we shall become, in some measure, like him. Our heart will come to resemble his; our character will become more Christly. As St. Paul said of Jesus’ followers We have the mind of Christ.

We are marked as Christ’s own forever. In time we shall, like our Lord and friend, worry less and become more at peace with life, because we will trust the constant presence of a good and reliable God. We shall feel more of the pain of this world and respond, like Jesus did, in mercy and justice. We shall become more humble and generous, more joyful, more real, more free. We shall have the mind of Christ.

Alleluia, for Christ is risen from the dead.
Alleluia, for we are being raised up with him.