Preparing for Easter- Easter Eve

A Reflection for Easter Eve All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, N.C. March 30, 2013 Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Genesis 22:1-18   Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21  Ezekiel 37:1-14

Romans 6:3-11  Luke 24:1-12

On Easter Eve at the Vigil we have, for the last several years, done the Paschal Sermon attributed to St. John Chrysostom, the Bishop of Constantinople in the late 4^th and early 5^th Century. It is a great sermon; he probably didn’t write it, but that did not keep it from being read in almost every Eastern Orthodox Church around the world on this night. The theme is that Christ is the Victor over death and what seems like a defeat on the cross is actually a victory, as Christ descends into the abode of the dead and breaks open the gates of Hell, bringing the righteous into paradise. 

I like the story of the Harrowing of Hell because it fits nicely into my theology that there is no limit on the amount of God’s love. We like to put limits on love and forgiveness, saying things like “I would forgive him/her if only they would come to me say that they are sorry!” Jesus does not forgive when people say they are sorry; Jesus forgives before they are sorry. While the nails are still being driven into his hands, he forgives. 

 

On this Easter Eve we tell the stories of the God who is able to redeem all things. We tell the story of Isaac who is at the brink of death at the hands of his father, who thinks that God is a monster who demands his son’s death. We tell the story of the Hebrew Children caught at the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s armies bearing down on them, and God sends God’s spirit to open a path in the parting of the waters. We tell the story of when the prophet goes into the Valley of the Dry Bones, and God’s spirit breathes on the bones and brings them back to life. We tell the story of Paul’s lesson to us that we are being raised with Christ. We tell the story of the women who come to the God-forsaken place of the dead to find the body of Jesus, and they meet two men in dazzling clothes who tell them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” 

 

I think people do want to get away from God because they believe God in a vengeful sadist who wants to punish us as we deserve, and so there are these Hells that people make of their lives, where they think that they are safe from the Hound of Heaven, as Frances Thompson called God’s love. I think that God is gracious and allows people to stay in the Hells they have made for all eternity, but God’s love never stops calling. Jesus tells us that God is the father of the Prodigal who keeps looking for us to return to the divine love. God continues to call with irresistible grace until Hell is emptied. God does things differently than we do, as God sings in Isaiah (55: 8-11 The Message):

“I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

On Easter Eve we gather in the dark, because that is where we spend a lot of our time as we long for the light. We light candles to remind ourselves that God’s light never goes out and continues to flicker in the recesses of our souls. Tonight may you find the light to drive the darkness away.