Easter Sunday - Homily 4

Homily 4 - 2021

'On entering the tomb they saw a young man …

He said to them, “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth..
he was crucified..
he has risen ..
he is not here ..
he is going before you to Galilee ..
it is there you will see him.”'

What a helpful young man! Let us unpack something of what he said. It is not as clear as it sounds.

You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth. Are we? Do we really care? Are we sure we care? How much of our energy does it take? I wonder what he really looks like? Certainly he looks nothing like any picture we have ever seen of him.

He was crucified. His crucifixion involved much more than what happened to him physically. It was especially degrading, dehumanising. It was also quite disconcerting. It meant his facing up to failure, to temptations of bitterness, loss of hope, despair, even loss of faith. He was tempted to feel all the temptations I have felt, and that you have felt — all of them. But he wrestled with them and remained true to himself. He accepted becoming the world’s innocent victim.

He has risen. I wonder if we have worked that through. When he eventually showed himself to the male disciples, he also showed them his hands and his feet; he showed Thomas the spear wound in his side. He was still wounded. Was it really the “still crucified” Christ who was raised, or the “since patched-up” Christ? What might be the implications of all that — coming back as the innocent victim, rather than triumphant Lord [as we so often insist on calling him]? What does it teach us? One thing his life and death did show is that those who deliberately choose to love unconditionally and inclusively choose at the same time to accept being utterly vulnerable. They also find that loving enemies takes a long time to learn. At the same time they choose the slow, slow way of non-violent interaction.

He is not here. So we certainly won’t need to look for him among the dead. He is alive! Looking for him, therefore, is worth our while — and exploring how really to enjoy life. Vulnerability and apparent failure may not be so bad after all, even though we run from them, though we do our best to deny them, anything but face them and be at home with them. Even on the night before his death, Jesus was talking about his joy and about life to the full. Resurrection shows it works.

He is going before you to Galilee. For the disciples Galilee was where they were at home. So we too apparently find him back home — not in Jerusalem, not in the Temple.

It is there you will find him. At least that means that we will not need to spend so much energy looking for the risen Christ in the halls of power. That has been hard for the Church to learn — hard for us all to learn. As Church we have cosied up to secular power too often. Within our own ranks we have imitated the ways of power as well. Titles have been ridiculously emphasised and office has been seen as the basis of power, privilege and entitlement rather than of service. Instead of challenging patterns of male or racial superiority, we have consolidated the ways of privilege and entitlement.

“You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth..
he was crucified..
he has risen ..
he is not here ..
he is going before you to Galilee ..
it is there you will see him.”

Happy searching! Happy Easter!