Homily for 20/21 Apr 2019 Easter Vigil and Day

20/21 Apr 2019

Easter Vigil and Day

Throughout the Church year we hear and we celebrate a gargantuan story—the story of how God created everything, how humans turned away from God, and what God and humanity have done to find one another again.  It’s a massive story; we call it “the history of salvation” (or salvation history).  And it’s story that exists on the cosmic level.  It involves the material world, the spiritual world, and some other world that only God knows.  And it has so many characters in it, we can’t count that high.

There’s God, of course.  There’s Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac.  There’s Moses and Pharoah, Joshua and the Canaanites, prophets both big and small: Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah.  There’s David and Solomon, Judith and Ruth, Esther and Hannah.  There’s Mary and Joseph, Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Wise Men from the East, the shepherds.  There’s the Apostles (even Judas), Mary and Martha, Mary Magdelene, Elizabeth and Zechariah.

Of course, we can’t forget about all the saints.  And then there’s every believer who’s ever lived.  There are the angels and the archangels, and the rest of the choirs of angels.  There’s the devil.  And there’s Jesus.  We could go on and on.  The number of characters in this massive story of salvation is beyond count. 

And the events that make up the plot of this story are also innumerable.  But some of them we highlight, and we celebrate them in an especially meaningful way.  Today we celebrate the event we know as the Resurrection of Jesus.  But it wouldn’t be quite right to think that, with the Resurrection, the story of salvation ended.  The end of the story doesn’t go: “And Jesus rose from the dead and everybody lived happily ever after.”  As we know, the story wasn’t over. 

Now, a challenge for us with the Resurrection (and with the whole history of salvation) is to not approach it as a spectator.  And that can be a challenge—partly because the Resurrection itself happened long ago, and so it’s outside our realm of experience; and partly because the Resurrection and all the events come before and after it require us to approach it with faith, with belief in the otherworldly, with belief in the “non-scientific” and the “non-rational.” 

In short, the Resurrection and the whole story of salvation demand that we open our minds and hearts to something that “the world” has been denying for at least the past few centuries.  And that something is the unbelievable, the fantastical, the divine.

In the early 80s (1984) a movie was released that’s called “The Neverending Story.”  If you’re over 40 you’ve probably heard of it.  It’s the story of a young boy named Bastian, who is challenged to believe the unbelievable.  He basically spends the movie reading a story book.  And as he reads he becomes more and more a part of the story.  And I’m sure any of you who’ve really been “taken” by a good book know the feeling. 

But as Bastian continues to read, he discovers that he’s getting to be a little too much a part of the story.  And it frightens him.  The characters in the book begin to speak to him—not metaphorically or psychologically, but really.  And he’s challenged to believe the unbelievable; to believe that the story isn’t “just a story,” but that it’s alive and real.  And at the end of the movie, Bastian realizes that if he doesn’t invest himself in that story—if he doesn’t let himself become a living part of that story—then the story...is done.

When we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, when we hear the story of salvation, when we get to know all the characters involved, and all the twists and turns of the plot...when we encounter this unbelievable story, we are faced with a challenge similar to Bastian.  Are we going to approach it as “just a story,” or as “just a historical event”? Do we see the story of salvation unfold as a...spectator?  Do we let the values of “the world” tell us what to think about the Resurrection?

Or do we throw caution to the wind, and believe the unbelievable?  Do we invest ourselves in the story?  Do we become part of that story?

For 2,000 years the story of Jesus, the story of faith and hope, the story of redemption and everlasting life and happiness has lived on—not in a dry and dusty book, but through the flesh-and-blood lives of every person who ever said (in their hearts), “I believe.”  All those people at the tomb that first Easter morning started to say that to themselves: “I believe.”  And God entered their minds and hearts, and they became living characters in the continuing story of salvation.

Now, in our world today, Christianity is on the decline.  Christian values, beliefs and practices.  Christian worship.  Faith, hope, and charity are losing their appeal to the human spirit.  Sacrifice is almost a forbidden word.  The story of salvation is going through a rather uncertain chapter right now.  Now, I’m sure the faith will continue on, and that the story will continue to be lived and unfold.  But that’s only going to happen if each of us invests ourselves into the story—the story of salvation, the story of the Resurrection, the story of God being born in a manger at Bethlehem, the story of the Apostles and how they were the foundation of Jesus’ band of disciples, the Church.

The world needs people—God needs people—who will invest their whole heart into the story; who will believe, and will live and breathe this incredible story of death and life.  It doesn’t do much good to celebrate the story today, and to put it back on the shelf tomorrow. 

And so, as we celebrate today a major event in that story, we are (each of us) challenged.  Am I going to invest myself into this story?  Can I see myself as an actual, living character is this story of salvation?  Or is it just another nice story, and tomorrow is “back to the usual”?