| April 15, 2001 Act 10:34-43 + 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 + Luke 24:1-12 |
| A shepherd awakened one morning to find that one of his ewes had given birth to a lamb, but the lamb had died. Continuing the daily inspection of the flock, the Shepherd found that another ewe had given birth during the night but had died, leaving her lamb to fend for itself. So, the shepherd had a childless mother on one hand a an orphan lamb on the other Quick thinking and sensible logic tell him that he should put the orphan with the childless mother Should work, shouldn’t it?However, it doesn’t work, not at all, because the mother knows the lamb is not her own and the lamb is too confused and miserable to relate to her The condition this story describes is a metaphor for the human condition the prophets of old recognized as our condition. We have been alienated from one another and from God, and like the newborn lamb, we had been dying from starvation while God, as it were, was dying of a broken heart. |
| Wise shepherds know that there is a remedy to this situation. It the shepherd takes some blood from the dead lamb and washes the orphan lamb in it, the mother, recognizing a familiar scent, will immediately begin to feed and care for the orphan as her own. In other words, the orphan is saved and brought to life by its adoption through the blood. |
| Today we celebrate the fact that we, who once were orphaned, alienated and marked for death through sin, have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ. Washed, healed, forgiven, and redeemed, we are a people, who by virtue of the Blood of Christ are recognized by God, welcomed and cared for just as he cared for and loved Jesus, His Son. |
| The post Christian world in which we live would rather have us look backward and be content with Easter pageants that re enact a past event and stir our sentiments for a dead Christ, or it would entertain us with bunny rabbits, Easter eggs, and new clothes. But the Gospel we proclaim is for Easter 2001 in the first year of the third millennium. It has it’s roots in the past, but its fruits in the present. The Gospel we proclaim is about you and me, not about Mary Magdalen, Peter, and John. It is about our doubts and dis-belief. It is about our disappointments and our hunger, our frustration with injustice and our longing for peace, healing and wholeness. It is about our need to belong and find our right place in life and with each other It is about our desperate need for a relationship that works, that lasts, that nurtures, and is mutual. It is about our longing for joy and lasting happiness that does not fade and fail. |
| The Gospel we have to proclaim in word and by the witness of our lives transformed is that all we long for is given to us and is ours to share. What He taught is not defeated by death, for His spirit lives in us. The service Christ taught us is not finished, the healing is not over, nor is the forgiveness. Death has no power over what we have been given. We who believe, who are washed in His blood, who have received His Spirit, who eat His flesh, are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. We hold the light of Christ to those in the night of fear When those we have loved walk away or leave us behind in death, we have one companion in life’s journey who never leaves. |
| What we proclaim to all the world this day is that there is nothing here for us: nothing that lasts, nothing that can satisfy our hunger our loneliness or our restlessness. Those who seek satisfaction in this world well seek it forever We do not look for the living among the dead. “He is not here.” said the angel to those who came seeking. All that we seek is to be found among the living – in the companionship of the faithful, the church. All that we need to satisfy our hunger for life is the bread of this table. All that we need to find healing forgiveness and peace is the love of Christ shared in this place. All that we need to awaken the Joy of this day is to be found in the human family born again in water and spirit, and bound together in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. |
| Washed in His blood, welcomed by God, we are not orphans, but daughters and sons of God. The Lamb of God has made it so. Delivered from slavery and passed over by the angel of death, we rejoice in the paschal lamb whose blood sprinkled on the door posts saved and redeemed God’s people. We are not born to die as this world might think. We are born to live through love in Christ. We are here because for us something has happened and we see. Fear of ridicule and scorn cannot keep us from proclaiming and living what Jesus taught us. Our faults and differences cannot keep us from working together for the truth. Religious differences cannot keep us from working together for the common good. What died on Good Friday was death itself, fear, darkness, and all that opposes life. What rises today is hope itself and the Joy and goodness, Spirit and Love that sustains it. |
| Peace be with you my friends. May the music, the laughter, and the beauty of this day hold you in peace until your journey’s end. |