Easter     April 8, 2007

Easter, the center, the high point, the greatest of all Christian feasts, but still not as popular as Christmas.  It’s much easier to rejoice in a newborn and to trust in a baby’s promising future than it is to believe that the dead come back to life.  We have questions, don’t we, nagging doubts.  Like the disciples at the tomb, we are confused, upset, uncertain, yet yearning to believe.  Our faith that Christ has burst the chains of death has its peaks and valleys.  How do we know it's true?  How can we be sure?

Our world runs on the rules of science, which demands proof before intellectual assent is given.  But, many are frustrated trying to use this rule for religious faith.  They look for proof of the resurrection before they believe in it.  Tragically, they will be locked in endless doubt.  For with faith the rules of evidence are reversed.  Believe first in the risen Christ, and then you will be convinced.  This is what the Scripture means when it says, "faith itself is the evidence of things unseen."  How does this work?

The Russian novelist, Dostoyevsky in The Brothers Karamazov recounts a conversation between a woman and a holy monk named Father Zossima.  Zossima is revered as a saint, full of wisdom.  The woman has a problem, and the priest is willing to listen.  Her problem is one of faith, she declares, not faith in God, but belief in life after death.  "Suppose it isn't true," she says.  "Suppose that all that happens to us is that we push up the daisies and turn to dust in the ground."  She babbles, cries, pleads with the holy man, "You must prove it to me!"  Father Zossima says, "There is no proof, but you may be sure of it."  "But how," she asks?  He answers, "By the experience of active love."  He tells her active love involves service and hardship.  Perhaps Father Zossima was thinking of the patients in need of love in gruesome 19th century Russian hospital wards, or the care deserved by Russian prison inmates enduring unspeakable agonies.  So, the priest went on to say, "Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing."  This is not the answer the woman expects.  She draws back, afraid of such self-giving.  But Father Zossima blesses her, and says that she has already begun by asking, by seeking.  Such active love is as much in demand today when dealing with difficult family members or coworkers as it was in 19th century Russia.  

Here are we, at Easter, seekers of faith in resurrection like the Russian woman.  And we, too, can know the resurrection in our experiences of active love.  As Father Zossima says, love and we will be sure.  You see, with faith everything is topsy-turvy.  Popular wisdom says "to know is to love."  We Christians follow a different wisdom, "to love is to know."  Loving Christ is prior to being convinced about him.  If this approach seems beyond the absurd, remember, Christians rush in where fools fear to tread.  Questions and nagging doubts about the resurrection are normal, but they have a solution.  It is to rush right in and love.

Loving others is the beginning of a firm belief in life after death.  But, this faith is so fragile, so elusive, and so easily lost that our best hope of keeping it alive and strong is to unite often in love with the Living One, the risen Christ.  How do we do this?  By joining with him where he is most really alive and present, in the Holy Eucharist.  More than anything, weekly communion with the Lord will sustain our deepest conviction of faith.   More than anything, staying close to the risen one in this life will make it easy for Him to draw us into the next life.  The Eucharist is the risen Christ.  The Eucharist is Easter unfolding every Sunday.  Dear friends, [and especially our candidates for welcome into full communion with the Church, Marjorie, Hillary, Vanessa, Hope, and Mercedes,] stay close to the risen Christ in the Eucharist.  When you actively love others and when you stay close to Him in his Body and Blood, he will lessen your doubts and boost your confidence in your own resurrection.  Yes, Christ is risen, indeed, and present here among us tonight [this morning].  So, let us rejoice!