Homily

I ran across an article from the Washington Post that ran some years ago on Easter Sunday and it began like this:

“‘On the third day, He rose again.’ That line from three days after Jesus died on the cross, He was resurrected, is a glimmer of the eternal life promised to believers. It's the heart of the Easter story in seven little words. But how that statement is interpreted is the source of some of the deepest rifts in Christianity—and a stumbling block for some Christians, and more than a few skeptics.”

Heh, heh. The same old tired kind of piece that seems to come up so often in many newspapers every Christmas and Easter, articles that chip away at, or try to knock down Christian faith.

Well, it's true that there are people who call themselves Christians who may not believe in the resurrection, and there are always going to be Christians who may suffer doubts from time to time about their faith. Sometimes faith does not grow unless we examine our doubts and work through them so that we can come to an even deeper faith. It is natural to struggle with our own faith from time to time. But the Post article is not about people who are working through doubts, of course. It's more about people who reject the idea that Christ rose from the dead.

Yes, the article does indeed quote a priest, who says, “Believing in the Resurrection is essential. . . It shows that nothing is impossible with God. In fact, Easter without the Resurrection is utterly meaningless. And Christian faith without Easter is no faith at all.” Of course not. St. Paul wrote that if Christ is not risen from the dead, then our faith is in vain, and we are to be pitied. He devotes a huge section of Chapter 15 in 1st Corinthians to the nature of the resurrected body. All the Gospel accounts tell of this miraculous and totally unexpected rising from the dead. Even though Jesus had told his disciples that this was going to happen, they still found it almost unbelievable when it did happen. We see this in today's Gospel. Thomas wouldn't believe the others. He had to see for himself. He had to touch the risen Lord, flesh on flesh. Then he exclaims, “My Lord and my God.” Christ, risen from the dead, is indeed our Lord and our God.

The Post article does not provide any quotes from the New Testament, which, of course, is loaded with statements about the resurrection of Christ. I just quoted 1st Corinthians, not to mention what is in the four gospels. But the headline of this Post article is “Gospel Story of Jesus’ Resurrection a Source of Deep Rifts in Christian Religion.” But as I say, they never quote the Gospel stories. So after this little positive statement from the priest, we get to the real point of the article as we hear from New York University professor Scot Korb, 37 years old, who has a very different take. “Though he now describes himself as a non-practicing Catholic, he once wanted to be a priest.” Ha! I once wanted to be president, but no newspaper is asking me for my views on foreign policy. But if it’s supposed to be about deep rifts in Christian belief in the resurrection, is the man even a Christian now? The article doesn’t say.

Back to Professor Korb, “The miracle of a bodily resurrection is something I rejected without moving away from its basic idea,” Korb said. “What I mean is that we can reach the lowest point of our lives, of going deep into a place that feels like death, and then find our way out again—that's the story the Resurrection now tells me. At Easter, this is expressed in community, and at its best, through the compassion of others.” So in Korb's version, the resurrection happens after you feel really, really bad and then you feel better. That's what it's all about. I would guess that the sacrament of this kind of religion would be Prozac. He says he rejects the idea of a bodily resurrection without moving away from its basic idea. But its basic idea is that, basically, Jesus bodily rose from the dead! Not only the basic idea, it was preached by the apostles as absolute truth and a truth they were willing to die for. And they did die for it.

Articles such as this will no doubt continue to appear in newspapers at Christmas and Easter for many, many years to come, as you may remember from years past. These types of articles always suggest that the Christian belief in miracles and mighty acts of God is somehow just not very enlightened nor reasonable for people with an education and intelligence. Other faiths have an easier time of it with the media. I'm waiting for the article on Native American religion where they quote someone who used to believe in it, but now they no longer do.

But here is what I ask you to think about: if someone asks you what the Resurrection is, how would you explain it to them? Take a few seconds to think here; how would you explain it? Now the person asks you, “What does it mean for you?” How do you answer them? Our faith is absolutely centered on this core belief of Christianity: “Christ is risen from the dead. By death He conquered death and to those in the graves He granted life.” There is a reason we sing it over and over again during this Paschal season, so that it sinks into the very marrow of our bones, this great truth that Christ is risen.

But if you have to explain to a friend or co-worker what importance this has to your own life, what would you say to them? What difference does it make to the way you see your life, your attitude, your work, your relationships with other people, your hopes and your fears, your behavior and your place in this world? Is the Resurrection just an item to say you believe in, or do you see it as central to your life as a Christian, to your life as a human being, to the way you see glory and suffering, health and illness, sin and repentance, love and rejection, heaven and hell, life and death….how does the resurrection of Christ fit into all of those things? When times are tough, when it is difficult to have hope, when death is in our thoughts, when we face the great indifference of the world or even the world’s hostility to Christ, what shall we say? It is truly worth spending some time thinking on these things, because they are vitally important to our lives in Christ.

Let's continue to proclaim the greatest truth of our Faith—but let's also take the time to think about how this this truth is working in our own lives, so that we never fail to say and to understand that the Risen Christ is our only sure hope.