Glastonbury Abbey

EASTER SUNDAY
Homily at Glastonbury Abbey, March 23, 2008
Father Timothy Joyce, OSB

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…. / In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

And God said, “Let there be light... and there was evening and morning, the first day. / Early on the first day of the week, when it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb …

The Lord God took Adam and put him in the garden of Eden… / There was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb… And Mary supposed he was the gardener…

It is no coincidence that John, in writing his gospel, compares the day of Christ’s resurrection with the creation of the world. It is Paul who will give this event the title of “new creation”. God is doing something new in the resurrection of Jesus.

2. Easter is not just the reward and vindication of Jesus after his cruel death.
Easter is not just the sign of resurrection for all of us in a future life.
No, Easter is the irruption of God into human history. It marks the beginning of a new creation. The original creation has been marred by human sin. Not only human beings but all of the material cosmos has been marred. So Paul says “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God”.

Easter is God’s commitment to the entire created order of stars and planets , earth and sea, animals, plants and human beings. The decisive victory of the final enemy of creation - death and decay - has been defeated in Christ.
We are now in the in-between time, between Christ’s resurrection and the final resurrection of all of us, and as the ancient creeds proclaimed, the resurrection of our bodies.

We do not know what this means nor can we describe it except to see the appearances of the risen Jesus which show a body continuous with the one that died on the cross and yet something new.

In the final resolution of the new creation, life will prevail; love will prevail. Today’s feast is the promise. It cannot be undone. It must happen.

3. If we wish to see the signs of this new creation already taking place, we have only to consider the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Here the new creation is evident. Material realities such as bread and wine, oil and water, the human touch and human love, become imbued with the power and presence of God. Time and space still endure but are given a new form.

4. If Easter is the commitment of God to our world, Easter also invites us to make the same commitment to our world. In renewing our baptismal promises, we are in fact renewing our commitment to the new creation.

If this world is not just something to get through but is the object of God’s love, the place where, as we pray in the Our Father, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, then we must take this world seriously.

Selfishness and greed have imperiled the earth which God has given us and which God wants to renew. Our concerns with climate change, with the protection of the environment, with care for the creation that groans for deliverance, is our real Easter duty.

Our working towards the equitable distribution of the world’s goods, the overcoming of the great divide between rich and poor, the alleviation of poverty which leads to war and violence, this too is our Easter duty.

To live in hope and not despair. To refuse to give in to the politics of fear. To do our part to hasten the new creation. This is our Easter duty.

Our commitment to beauty in the human works of creation – in art, language, poetry, music and architecture – this too is our Easter duty.

Our gratitude for the good news of new creation, our joyful reception of Christ ’s resurrection by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and his resurrection among others – this too is our Easter duty.

5. Today is truly the great Christian feast. Easter frees us, Easter liberates us. Easter makes us confront all our fears, even our fear of death. The day calls for a sense of newness, of renewal in our lives. Put away the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, and celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Do something new today and throughout the fifty days in which we celebrate Easter.
Did you give up something during the forty days of Lent? Why not start up something for the fifty days of Easter? Do something new – a new commitment, a new relationship, a new practice. Let go of the old.

Every Sunday is a little Easter. Make Sunday something new in your lives, a day that refreshes every other day of the week.

Renew your faith in this tattered war-torn world. Something new can happen in your lives, in the church, in the world. God can break in. Let down your defenses. Refuse to be overcome by fear, by vengeance, by hatred or greed.

Christ has passed through death and become a new creation. This is the call and promise for all of us.

Happy Easter!