April 12, 2009 Cycle B
Acts 10:34,37-43 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
Mark 16:1-7 (Easter Vigil Gospel)
A magician was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week so the magician did the same disappearing tricks over and over again.
There is only one problem. The Captain’s talking parrot saw the show every week and began to understand how the magician did every trick. Once he understood this, he started shouting in the middle of the show, “Look it’s not the same hat.” “He’s hiding the flowers under the table.” “See all the cards are the ace of spades.”
The magician grew to hate the Captain’s parrot. One day the ship had an accident and sank. There were only two survivors - - - the magician and the parrot. Together they drifted on a large piece of wood. They stared at each other with hate, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day, and another, and another.
On the third day the parrot in desperation said, “All right, I can’t work it out. I give up. Where did you hide the ship.?"
For many people Easter can be seen as a great magical trip. Without us seeing how, Jesus escapes from the tomb and the show goes on. But truly what we are celebrating today is not magic, but the glory and the love of God. Magic, however, does amaze us because it pushes aside the self-imposed boundaries of our minds.
For some Easter is about boundaries. Boundaries that were established by our own human weaknesses now are forever taken away by the Risen Christ. There are many whose human condition is often described as one of living within boundaries. Boundaries that hem us in, that give shape to our lives. We often live within boundaries that keep us from the loving relationship with God that we were intended to have. And we create boundaries in our own lives; boundaries that often separate us from others.
The Good News today is that Easter is about boundaries being far extended – even taken away! It is about Christ breaking through the boundaries of sin and death. It is about Christ breaking through the boundaries of the tomb that we might live in full union with God.
As the Gospel relates today, clearly on Easter morning something had happened to Jesus, but something also had happened to His disciples as well. Most of them accepted the boundaries of their lives. They went into hiding after the Crucifixion. But guess who were the brave ones that came out? Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome. They walked back into the world and they became braver and stronger. They were the witnesses to the Resurrection. How did these three women who came to that tomb on Easter morning plan to move that massive stone that sealed that entrance? At the empty tomb the great stone of history was victoriously moved aside. These women had nothing to fear. Heaven accomplished the task before they arrived. And a young man clothed in white told them not to be amazed at that. Far greater things had been accomplished while the world slept: sin and death had been moved aside!
The messenger of God announces to these women that the tomb is no longer a place of death. It is a place for beginning to talk of life. After he has offered the women the assurance that Jesus of Nazareth has been raised, he gives them their mission: to go and witness to the disciples that Jesus is going before them into Galilee. Notice that Peter is especially mentioned. Peter is now a different kind of person whose pride and self-assurance has been cut down by his betrayal and had been watered by his bitter tears. The evangelist Mark mentions Peter, specifically because it was a reminder of a path toward his restoration. Peter’s rehabilitation gives disciples in every age hope for forgiveness, regardless of how badly they might have sinned and betrayed the Lord. Peter becomes an example of a boundary set aside.
This is too Good News, for Peter stands in our place, for many times we find ourselves having experienced a mysterious boundary dividing us from God, from each other, and from our real selves.
Christ truly has broken through the boundaries of our own sins and death once and for all. The boundaries that once have divided us, now have been far extended. We are invited into God’s embrace, always into God’s unconditional love.
Today, as we celebrate this beautiful event of new life, new opportunities for ministry, for the next fifty days in the Easter season, I hold before you a chalice that was passed to me from my mother’s brother, who served as a priest in the Green Bay Diocese for over fifty years. This chalice that he used during his lifetime has now been restored and I will use it today as a reminder of the new life that has been passed on through our family, as I too join you in breaking Bread and receiving the Cup of Life again.
We have acknowledged through the Lenten season, the Covenant, the restoration by God, and His care for all humanity from the day of Noah to our own day. This chalice might be a reminder of the cup of the Covenant of salvation that my Uncle Lawrence used to bring his congregations together for many years.
May the cup of the Covenant remind us too that the Risen Christ has broken through the confines of death, making is possible for us to rejoice and live beyond the boundaries. We are not celebrating magic here. We are Easter people who continue to extend our hearts and our lives to others in sharing God’s Good News of His saving mercy and love. This is possible because the gift of Resurrection faith in Jesus Christ. Happy Easter! Amen. Amen! Msgr. Tom, Pastor Christ the King