Alleluia! He is Risen!

Easter Vigil

This is what it is all about. Tonight we celebrate the very reason for our existence. When you strip away all the externals, all the smells and bells, the only thing that is left is the fact that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Not was risen but is risen. Without that key event in human history there would be no hope for humanity. It is something that we remember and something that we live today. 

Ours is not a dead faith. We do not simply remember events that happened in the past. Jesus Christ is yesterday, today, and forever. The resurrection is now. The resurrected Christ is as alive to us today as he was to the apostles. Without that reality where would we be? If all we do is remember the past where is our hope? Jesus must be alive to us every day or we have nothing but a ghost.

Can you imagine what it was like for the apostles to see Jesus alive again, in the flesh that first time? Can you imagine their confusion, their fear, and their joy? What must it have been like to embrace him once again, to feel his breath upon them, to hear his voice telling them to not be afraid? They were not simply remembering him as he had been, they were living him again. It was an experience that completely changed their lives. 

It wasn’t Jesus’ life that changed them forever, it was his death and resurrection. If Jesus had not been raised they would have just gone on with their everyday lives, perhaps a bit more cynical and jaded about the unfairness of the world. Instead, they became the most powerful evangelists the world has ever known. Just because they knew the risen Christ.

Is it the same with us? Do we really know that Christ is alive for us, here, today? Do we just believe in the stories of an ancient god or is that god truly alive? If we had heard all those wonderful stories of our faith history that we just heard tonight, and not heard the story of the resurrection, would that have been enough for us to change our lives as the apostles did? All those stories are history, but the resurrection is His story. Jesus Christ must be alive if we are to be alive. 

And Jesus is all about life. Jesus was not raised from the dead so that God could show off his great power. Jesus was raised from the dead so that we too would never die. That breath of life is what sustains us and keeps us going every day of our lives. And it is that breath of life that we are compelled to proclaim to the world. The good news of everlasting life.

Alleluia! He Is Risen!