A parish of the Diocese of New Westminster

Happy Easter! Whilst every Sunday we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, Easter is our annual highlight celebration of Jesus’ overcoming death ‘as the first fruits of those who have died’, as St. Paul said. That’s why Easter is the most appropriate time in the year for baptisms. And hence Neah is to be baptized in our midst today. However, many believers nowadays are not excited as the early disciples about the resurrection of Christ. We may be like children loving the once-a-year egg-hunting on Easter Day, without caring too much about the meaning on the resurrected Christ breaking the imprisonment of the tomb to make it an empty tomb, somewhat like ‘chicken breaking through the egg-shell’.

It may be easier for us to appreciate the disciples’ responses upon Jesus’ resurrection if we recall our excitement and enthusiasm a few weeks ago during the Winter Olympics when Canadian athletes won medals. Remember how Canadians from coast to coast celebrated with high emotions when Alex Biloudeau broke the record of having a Canadian winning the first gold medal when the event was hosted by Canada,?

Likewise, on that morning on the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion, John went into the empty tomb and when he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head rolled up in a place by itself, he believed Jesus’ resurrection. Mary Magdalene, whilst wasn’t able to grasp the reality as quickly as John, rejoiced at Jesus’ resurrection and returned to announce to the other disciples: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And that sort of excitement and enthusiasm didn’t cool off despite lapse of time. Long after that first Easter morning, when the early church started to form and grow, Peter spoke to the gentiles in Caesarea with no less enthusiasm: ‘we are witnesses to all that [Jesus] did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day . . . he commanded us to . . . testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’ Then, years after that, Paul wrote to the Corinthians with equal, if not more, enthusiasm: ‘if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died . . . for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.’

Yes, the early disciples were all excited and enthusiastic about Jesus’ resurrection, for it conveyed an extremely significant message of joy and hope to the core of their being. It’s like Alex’s winning a first gold medal which carried a much more significant meaning to Canadians than simply a gold medal. As the TV screen flashed back and forth between this young and humble athlete’s face and those of his family members (especially that of his elder brother Frederick who lived with cerebral palsy but was such an inspiration for his younger brother in wagering towards his dream and goal), Canadians from coast to coast were touched, and became excited and enthusiastic about that Canadian spirit carried by this young athlete.

All the more so for the disciples like John, Mary Magdalene, Peter and Paul! It’s literally a matter of life and death. The one who got persecuted and died on the cross has risen from the dead! All power, authority and principalities (including death) have no last word over human frailty and waywardness. That great drama at Golgotha (fueled by, and interwoven with, betrayal by Judas, jealousy and fear from Jewish religious leaders to fan mob rioting from the crowd, together with cowardice from Pilate the Roman prefect) did not end with Jesus’ breathing his last on the cross and burial in a nearby tomb. To the contrary, it shaped the beginning of the greatest life drama in human history – of divine love overcoming human waywardness, of divine forgiveness filling the chasm between God and human, between life and death. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!

Can we be excited and enthused to proclaim that Easter peace, joy and hope with the early disciples, men and woman alike? I am hopeful that we are able to capture the due excitement and enthusiasm about Easter if we care to, so to speak, turn on the appropriate channel (as we did with the TV channels for the Olympic Games) to view the Easter divine drama like John, Mary Magdalene, Peter and Paul did. Needless to say, their perspectives are like those of the spectators on site, and carry much more weight in terms of truth and validity, compared with ours seen more than 2,000 years later, and from a distance. It’s like spectators watching the Olympic game of downhill skiing either from the top of the hill or along the skiing route, as compared to those witnessing and cheering the athletes’ hitting the finishing line with the event holders’ announcement on the record of time for the athletes’ completion of the ski. The former probably catch good glimpses of the athletes’ performance on their way without knowing the final outcome till later, but only the latter witness the athlete’ completion of the race with the recorded time.

God’s salvific love for us through Christ is never meant to be grasped by us as mere spectators on hill top or by hillside. Easter love is meant to be experienced by us like crowds waiting at the finishing line to see the entire picture: like that big picture of God’s love and forgiveness through Good Friday and Easter. It is never meant to be touched only superficially, like children hunting for eggs on Easter morning or during Easter season, without getting explanation from teachers and/or parents on its meaning, to pave way for the growth of faith seeds planted in their little hearts about the mystery of God’s love for all.

No, not like that! Easter love is meant to be experienced like what John did, with his sadness and fear calmed and replaced by faith. Easter love is meant to be experienced like what Mary Magdalene did, with her tears wiped away, her eyes opened to see her deeply missed teacher, and she walked on in obedience to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ resurrection. Easter love is meant to be experienced like what Peter did, with his fear to the point of denying Jesus three times all washed away, allowing the risen Christ to broaden his faith in heart and mind so as to proclaim God’s love for all through Christ’s death on the cross and rising from the tomb. Easter love is meant to be experienced like what Paul did, letting go of his former conceit, to work hard in the grace of God to teach the gentiles about the mystery of God’s love for all through Christ’s resurrection.

Do we want to accept God’s invitation to walk into the Easter experience?How would that Easter experience look like for us in our contemporary discipleship? Well, after 2,000 years, it is still the same tremendous sense of peace, joy and hope like what the early disciples had experienced (as we heard from our Easter Day readings here). It will be our own personal experience though, as we walk our own faith journey and life story. There is high chance that our Easter experiences may not be glamorous – but they will always open our eyes to see and ears to listen as we walk on to encounter the risen Christ. As we walk on with Easter hope and faith, we are bound to meet the risen Christ on our way, Often he joins us for conversation (like how he did to Mary Magdalene, Peter and Paul), but sometimes he keeps silent and reveals himself through silence (like how he did with John). No matter what, he shares the pain of our present and our past; he poses questions for us to take honest looks at our being and our deeds. As when we respond to him in trust and honesty, we’ll find peace, joy and hope infusing into our entire beings, to drive out fear and worries we acquire on our way, healing wounds of our past and memories, to walk us on in our Easter journey with his company.

This is the experience of Neah’s mother in her few months in Canada and with us. What was originally anticipated to be a holiday for rest turned out to be her Easter experience – not so much as a restive holiday but rather a wonderful encounter with the risen Christ filled with peace, joy and hope, and hence her request for baby Neah to be baptized today. Let’s share her joy and celebrate Easter, especially with the baptism of Neah in our midst.