The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, April 4th: Acts 10:34,37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9)

THE RESURRECTION MAKES LIFE MEANINGFUL

Alleluia! He is risen! Finally, Easter Sunday is here.

The Resurrection is the central event in all of salvation history. Without the Resurrection—that moment when Jesus conquered death once and for all—everything that came before it in the Bible was a sad waste of time. All the prophets and the laws and the psalms and the religious rituals were for naught.

Without the Resurrection, everything that came after it, the past 2,000 years of Christianity and the struggle of believers worldwide to be in a close relationship with God, were also a sad waste of time.

St. Paul expressed the critical importance of the Resurrection when he wrote, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).

The Resurrection is the heart of our faith. It is the difference between hope and despair, joy and sorrow, life and death. Without the Resurrection, after our brief 30-, 60-, or 90-year journey here on earth comes to an end, we will be dead forever. But WITH the Resurrection, the end of natural life here on earth is merely the end of Act I, Scene I. Death becomes the passageway to a glorious and joyful existence with the Lord in Heaven forever. (And you don’t have to be a math major to understand that 30, 60, or 90 years is a whole lot shorter period of time compared to forever.)

Which is why I can’t for the life of me understand how some Christian denominations minimize the importance of, or even outright reject, the doctrine of the Resurrection. They truly think the Resurrection is nothing more than a “myth” or a “symbolic story.” And they truly think the Christian faith—minus the Resurrection—is still a vibrant and helpful guide for day-to-day living. I just can’t see it. Without the Resurrection, the Christian faith is like a basketball game without the basketball. It’s like Thanksgiving dinner without any food.

And it’s like a Mel Gibson movie without any hope of final triumph. Which, I think, is the main reason so many secular critics of “The Passion of the Christ” made such a stink when the movie first came out about five or six years ago. Being secular, they didn’t believe Jesus’ death paid the price for our sins. (Many of them didn’t believe—and still don’t believe—that there even is such a thing as sin.) And they certainly didn’t believe that Jesus turned tragedy into triumph three days later when He rose up and walked out of that tomb.

So, for the critics, the film was nothing more than a 2-hour exercise in sadistic torture. Although I can’t remember hearing these same critics denounce the violence offered by Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone, or any of the other countless slasher, bloodbath horror flicks produced by Hollywood over the past couple of decades. When a film involves Jesus, suddenly the secular critics are concerned about violence? Go figure.

But selective outrage and hypocrisy aside, in all honesty, I can understand the secular critics’ point-of-view. To them, Jesus was merely a man who met a tragic end. To watch a film about the last 12 hours of His life is not only disturbingly violent, it’s meaningless. He was tortured; He died; He stayed dead—end of story. Why make a movie about it?

However, Christians know that was not the end of the story—well, at least Christians who refuse to follow the new “it’s all symbolic mythology” line of thinking. Christians know that Jesus’ tragic death was NOT meaningless. With every drop of blood shed, another of our sins was being washed away. And Christians know, most importantly of all, that He did NOT stay dead. This fact is what turned a gory, violent, meaningless film into a gory, violent, inspirational film.

Christians also know that Jesus promised us that if we put our faith in Him, we too can rise up out of our graves and be with Him forever in Heaven. He said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

This hope in the Resurrection—His, which has already occurred, and ours, which will occur—is the primary message of Easter. It’s the hope that gives us courage to face the trials of life with serenity and peace, whether it is a major illness, the sudden death of a loved one, or our own final months here on earth. It’s the hope that allows us to attend funerals but really treat them as graduation ceremonies. It’s the hope that helps us say with St. Paul, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

So, go out and enjoy this blessed holiday. But don’t forget exactly what is being celebrated. (Hint: it ain’t eggs and chocolate and bunnies and bonnets.) And don’t let secular-style doubt and despair creep into your life. Jesus paid the ultimate price so we could have hope and confidence.

Finally, Easter Sunday is here. Alleluia! He is risen!

©2010