Easter, 17 April 2022
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Amor Vincit Omnia”
Collect: Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
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 since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into being.
What has come into being in him was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it. [John 1:1-5]
The Gospel of John opens with this beautiful hymn to the divine Logos, the word of God, through whom all creation is.
This is no simple thing he is saying here. He is opening with a prologue that gives us the story in a nutshell. It did not need a spoiler warning, but it gives away the whole story. “The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness could not overcome it.”
That is the story in a nutshell. From creation to resurrection, it is the oldest story known.
Good vs. Evil.
Light vs.
Darkness.
Life vs. Death.
Love vs. Anything Opposing Love.
Friends, we are living in a time being consumed by darkness: wars, pandemics, divisiveness. We cannot agree on a way forward as we cannot agree on what is right and what is wrong any more. God help us.
In a world so consumed by deliberate distractions thrown up to take us down alternate paths with alternate truths we come to a story given to us 2,000 years ago in the life of a simple man. A carpenter from a small town in a backwater province of a mighty empire. And yet, this story is the greatest story ever told, as it has been called.
In those 2,000 years, empires have come, and gone. Kings mighty and fearsome have lived and been forgotten, their names lost and gravestones long since eroded away to mere rocks again, their might mere dust in the earth. There have been times of feast, and times of famine. Dark Ages and Times of Enlightenment and Renaissance. It has all happened before and it will all happen again.
And through it all we have had a story, a story beyond belief or of absolute necessity, depending on your point of view. And as the world spins, yearly we tell this tale. When death has won against light and life incarnate, the author of life gets the last word.
The focus of this story is this simple worker of wood. A quiet profession, one of focus and detail and patience. And then he turned outward to the world, proclaiming a message of love and grace. People started following him and believed the message that he shared. An alternate way of viewing God, each other, and ourselves was given to us. It gave hope to the hopeless, and purpose for the lost. It did not ignore or negate the past, but it redeemed it. Transforming the scars into marks of honor and glory. Here, even here, God can be glorified.
He taught things beyond comprehension, revaluing what had been ignored and overlooked by all the “important” ones.
The poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, they’re blessed not cursed by God.
The meek, those who hunger for righteousness, the merciful, they’re blessed.
The pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, all blessed in this one’s way of seeing the world.
Even when we are despised and hated for following him and going out in his name, we are blessed even then. Our message and our truth will win out.
This was a dangerous message to the powers that be. It cut out their role as the middleman with God. The control was given to the people and access to the Almighty was turned on its head. This had to be silenced. This had to stop. This story was getting dangerous.
It sounds insane to say that a message of love, forgiveness, and grace was dangerous, but you cannot control people if they do not fear. Fear comes from division. Fear comes from not understanding. Fear comes, but perfect love drives out all fear.
And this story is focused on this one, this one who turned out to the world preaching this message. His name was Jesus, and he was so unique, his singular life is still being debated and diminished and demanded some 2,000 years later.
In I Corinthians 13, St. Paul paints a picture of what Love looks like, and it reminds me so much of Jesus. Not who we say Jesus is, making him in our own image, but how he was.
Jesus is patient;
Jesus is kind;
Jesus is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
Jesus does not insist on his own way;
Jesus is not irritable or resentful;
Jesus does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Jesus never ends.
That image of humility and simplicity goes against the images tossed out by so many about how people should lead or go about their daily lives. Jesus’ message is as counter-cultural and revolutionary as the day he preached it. And that is what made it and makes it still so dangerous.
When Satan set the wheels in motion, making the Pharisees argue, making the religious leaders fearful, making Judas Iscariot resentful, making the disciples doubtful, making Pilate too political, making the Crowds who sang Hosanna on Sunday shout Crucify on Friday, he [Satan] knew what he was doing. He was set to make Jesus drink from this bitter cup he did not want to drink. And in his naivete he thought that dead means dead. Since the biting of the fruit in the Garden of Eden it had. It always had, but this time it was different.
As John starts his story, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the Darkness cannot overcome it.” Death does not get the last word.
It was a body that was broken and killed, it was not Jesus. Jesus never ends. And that light cannot be overcome, and what was dead arose alive. Jesus never ends.
And friends, created by this one and created in his image, it means that we do not either. NOTHING! Absolutely NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:38-39]
Not even death. NOT EVEN DEATH.
The Roman poet Virgil wrote a truth, and truth is true no matter the source.
Amor vincit omnia.
But for those of us who do not speak Latin,
Love conquers all.
Even death.
Friends, I cannot tell what the days ahead will bring. The doomsayers are out in force. Inflation. Nuclear War. Civil Strife or War. Racial Tensions. Inflation out of control. It is always darkest before the dawn.
But yearly we have this day, so needed, some years more than others. We have this day when we remind ourselves that there is another side to that river, someone has crossed and came back to tell the tale. He said there was another side, and returned to prove it. What have we to fear?
Yearly we need an Easter, a retelling of this tale. A Maundy Thursday to remind us of our friendship and love with the one who makes the promises. A Good Friday to remind us that bad things, very bad things, happen and that life is hard. A Holy Saturday to honor our doubts and fears, they are both real and recognized by God who understands. An Easter Vigil to remind us again that this story was millenia long, and does not end. We are part of the story, too! And then we have today. Easter day!
The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
And we are reminded that no matter how dark, no matter how bleak, no matter our suffering or even our death, Amor vincit omnia– LOVE CONQUERS ALL!
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Blessings, Rock