Homily, Easter 2024
From The Pastor
Resurrection is life. New life. Transformed life in the power and the truth of Love. God is the essence of love given and fulfilled in the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus. Consider deeply this mystery of our faith. What do you actively believe about the Resurrection of the Lord? What happened between the events of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday?
The mystery of our redemption is a singular movement that begins with the creation of the world. The chaos and disorder of darkness is brought to order in the power of the Spirit of God who formed creation and ‘saw it was good.’ Creation evolves to the ‘fulness of time’ in the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus; ‘and the Word became flesh and made his home among us.’ A unity between heaven and earth is formed leading to a union of love between the uncreated God and the created flesh of humanity and all creation. The perfect essence of Divine Love chooses to dwell in the imperfect messiness of sinful humanity.
The death of Jesus was inevitable. The deception of evil and the lie of sin could not tolerate the tension and vulnerability of love that could defeat its reign of disorder and hate. The culmination of this tension put Jesus on the Cross. Lifted high, the evidence of sin and evil was evident for all to see. What was not seen in that darkest hour was the light of Divine love that could not be defeated by the lie of sin. Love is greater than sin and love is more powerful than all evil. Love transforms sin and death into new life.
The origin of our beginning is the will and desire of God to create out of love, sharing the Divine goodness flowing forth into all creation. We are created in love, for love, and by love. Divine love is our essence and our origin confirmed in the act of the Incarnation of God himself into a person like us in all things but sin. Any conscious parent would never let their child die due to fault or imperfection. How much more our Divine Creator Parent? How could God as the essence of love surrender his beloved creation to the lie of Evil and sin?
Sin disrupts the communion of love we share with God. God is not less God. God is not hurt, angry, or vengeful. God, in endless and various ways throughout human history sent messengers, prophets, plagues, and signs to try to alert and convert the waywardness of human sin. Nothing worked; no remedy could be found. God knows that God alone would be the remedy. The Incarnation was no afterthought. Jesus, the Word, always preexisted in the Father with the Holy Spirit.
God needed a body as an instrument of sacrifice. Jesus is the pure and unblemished Lamb who freely and without bitterness or resentment offers himself for the forgiveness of sin. This is an eternal, everlasting gift. Taking in all sin, Jesus proves the transforming power of love, that while we were dead in the confusion of sin, he chooses to die for our sake. Realize this integral dynamic. Jesus becomes our sin, accepting all sin into his person and taking it to the Cross. No sin was left out, no sin forgotten. All sin nailed to a tree in an act of perfect undefended love, obedience, and personal surrender.
This means that Jesus has saved us not from our sin, but through our sin. It is the only way we would ever realize the reality and fulness of Divine love. Given free will, we are free to sin. In pure love, God chooses to heal and forgive all sin. Radical. Mind blowing. Prodigal. Reckless.
Notice the dynamic of Peter. Jesus allows Peter to betray him choosing to suffer this pain of rejection. Why? Peter needed to die to his ego and small self to realize the fullness of himself in Christ. In deep humiliation as Peter looked into the eyes of Jesus, he could see how deeply Jesus (still) loved him. Peter had only learned to love Jesus for his own sake. Now seeing the pure look of love in Jesus’ eyes, Peter learned to love Jesus for Jesus’ sake. His life was no longer about himself, but about Jesus who was his life.
That is the transformation of love and its power. We cannot just love God for our own sake and fully realize who God is. When we can love God for God’s sake, we have turned the corner to realize that our lives are not about us, but about loving God and others.
Any resurrection or transformation is dependent on a death. Love is a surrendering, a giving up of what I want for the sake of loving another. If my life is only for and about me, I am lost. If I spend myself in the service of love, I will find deep happiness. If I sin along the way, admit my sin with honesty and sincere contrition, asking Jesus to forgive me, I will be made whole. Dying to self is an undeniable part of the process. It is the nature and the gift of both human and Divine love. Rejoice! He is risen from the dead and so are you in the mercy of Divine forgiveness. Love yourself and love God for God’s sake. The natural fruit will become your love for others.
Father John Esper
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