Year B Easter Vigil 2024 At Home

Year B Easter Vigil, 30 March 2024
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“At Home”


Mark 16:1-8
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.


When I was in seminary, one of my favorite professors was Glenn Hinson. Still working to this day in his 90s, he was and is a force to be reckoned with. He single-handedly took on what was the largest protestant denomination in the United States, and almost won. One of the things that struck me most under his tutoring was his response to encountering God.

He would say, when one encounters the living God the only response can be, [drop mouth open and stand in awe].

Tonight, as we see the dream of God fulfilled, our response says much of how we see God, and how we see ourselves.

We started tonight with Creation, of which we are only a part. A special part. An honored part. A broken part. We are the part of Creation which chose to step away from all that we had been given.

God’s hopes for us, for all of us, you and me, and all the generations of ancestors between then and now have not been fulfilled. Yet. But in Jesus, and the whole Christ event, they have been enabled. And the story that we tell of Creation to Christ is the preamble to the main story of God making God’s home with God’s people. We are in the midst of that stream of history right now.

But God’s fingerprints are all over the events that brought us to where we are. We went through a highlight reel of key turning points tonight, sitting in the dark and awaiting enlightenment.

In the Flood, God provided a way out. When sin had become so prevalent, God found a righteous remnant so that his dream could stay alive. Even in Judgement, God extends Grace.

When Abraham believes he hears the call of God he believes he is to sacrifice his son. God in his Providence stays his hand, and even then, Jehovah Jireh, the God who Provides, gives him another way out. God wants our devotion not our blood. God wants our heart not our sacrifice. And the dream stayed alive.

When God’s Children were enslaved in Egypt, he called them home. And when all sane hope is lost, they walk through the sea! After the nightmares of the plagues, this miraculous deliverance is beyond belief. When they walk through the waters, they come out on the other side a new people, the nation of Israel, those who wrestle with God. And we only struggle with those things we care about. This nation, newly birthed, cared about this God who “Is.” And the hand of God was all over this as well.

The prophets called out offering Salvation, Wisdom and a Way of Life, and a New Heart and Spirit. The Spirit speaking through them reminded God’s Children of who they were and the path they were called to follow. And we see God’s fingerprints on these words.

Then we were given a vision of death springing into Life, dry bones becoming God’s living, breathing Children. A vision of what is happening to and through each and every one of us. The evidence of God being here is clear as well.

St. Paul reminded us of the baptism leading us into Christ’s death, which also led us into his Resurrection. For this was the plan from the beginning, for God to be at home with us and for us to be at home with God. As Scripture promises repeatedly:

Ezekiel 37:27
My dwelling place shall be over them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

John 14:23
Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

Revelation 21:1-7
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them and be their God;

he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.”

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.


From the prophets, from Jesus himself, from John’s vision of what is to be, God’s dream is to make our home with God. And God took it upon Godself to take away any barriers or burdens or hindrances that might keep that from happening. We sit in darkness awaiting the light, the light that is our homelight burning. That homelight that is God “keeping the lights on for us” as we wind our way home.

[Singing]

Come home, come home,

Ye who are weary, come home.

Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling,

Calling, O sinner, come home.

Amen