Homily Easter 2023

By Sr. Rebecca
Holy Wisdom Church

 

       We heard this morning from John’s Gospel “the Light shines in the darkness.”  What light?   John is pointing to this Light of Christ, the same that emanates and radiates from the very beginning of God's creation:  In the book of Genesis, chapter 1, we hear of the Spirit hovering over the deep dark abyss, and God said: “Let there be Light.” This is not the light of the sun but rather the mysterious Divine Light imbuing all of creation.   John is referring to this Light in introducing his Gospel:  Jesus is the very Word of God incarnate.  He is the Light of Life.  In him and through him God dwells—or, more literally, the text says that in Him God has pitched his tent in our midst. And continues to do so right up to this very moment.

            But the very goodness of God manifested in Jesus aroused hatred from those refusing the light, and he was put to death. We know the story and how this unexpected event threw his disciples into a deep dark abyss of despair, sadness, and dashed hope for a Savior of their world.  The disciples spiraled down their dark inner confusion to the point of being terrified of being associated with Jesus.  So they enclosed themselves behind locked doors, insulating themselves, huddling together in their misery.  

What is going on within them?  Figuratively, they have entombed themselves in a death-dealing Shame.  Shame, of which the other  side is Fear, leading to a sort of recoiling within, a hiding out in the dark inside myself.  Fear of what:  reprisal, rejection, and eventually death? Their shame-stricken minds hearken back to Adam and Eve hiding themselves out of fear and shame. But closed doors did not prevent the Risen Jesus from passing through into their midst and offering Peace to them.  Nothing they did brought about this sudden visitation It is sheer grace, the goodness of God that brought them to new life.  

            Teilhard de Chardin said that this extraordinary energy of the Risen Lord has changed the very atoms of creation—that it not only transformed lives but also transformed the entire creation.   God did not just create in the beginning and then somehow bow out of sight but has been creating, renewing life right up to our day.

            This reminds me of an event that may well illustrate this same Spirit creating new life in a person’s life: Some time ago, before Holy Week, I received a voice message on my phone. It came from a woman I will call Joan, saying:

“I am calling to get some advice as to what I should do.  My family hates me.  I am an alcoholic. Last night I heard this voice: it whispered inside me: ‘You can have another chance.  Everything is OK.  The past is forgotten.’  The feeling was wonderful.  I am calling because I do not know how to make the best of it.”

Those in AA can vouch for similar experiences that changed their lives forever. This voice from within Joan has invited her to new life—to rise from a dead-end prison of dark bondage and also from misery, not only to herself but also to her family and friends.  In calling for help she is doing her part—stepping out to ask for advice so she can act according to the Life offered her.  The seed has been planted.  She needs now the good soil for it to germinate.  

            I recently came across another person’s experience of this new light from within: “My practice now is to let my heart break for what I was.”  He finally let go of trying to control his life. Leonard Cohen expressed it like this: “There is a crack in everything and that’s how the light gets in.”

            The psalmist says, “Deep calls unto deep.”  The deep dark abyss continues in our day; we hear about it every day in the news. Killings and wounding of innocent people….many horrors flood the news. The Risen Lord assures us that the experience of this deep dark abyss calls forth again the Creative Spirit of God, who has been hovering over this chaos from the very beginning of not only our earth but the entire universe and bringing forth New Life.

            Later today we will return to our 24/7 daily lives with our concerns, our work, and our relationships.  May we hold in mind and heart Jesus’ word: “Abide in me.”  When we give heed to this presence, this kairos time, we allow the Light to pierce through everything we are and do...in every NOW moment.  Some part of us, though, is yet to be redeemed to see the Light.  We need the shocks of our difficulties, challenges, sometimes a mini or maxi crisis, to wake up to this innermost reality of God's creative life in our midst calling us to cooperate in God’s re-creating.  At times we find ourselves wrestling with our problems, with our thoughts and feelings, and we feel our sense of powerlessness.  Our tendency, like the disciples, is to go into the insular, self-enclosing of our own little self.  When we do this, it is like trying to solve the problem within the problem. God's grace is bigger than our limited sense of self.  Grace is woven into the fabric of our lives.   A German proverb ays:  “Begin to weave, and God will give you the thread.”

      We need only to trust in and cooperate with this divine presence, this Light of Life permeating all of life, and then our voices resounding in “Christ is Risen” will follow us into our everyday lives and unbeknown to ourselves reverberate for the Life of the World we live in.