Easter Sunday
Cycle B
April 5, 2015 10:30am
and 12:30pm
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
No Proof
We,
you and I, I cannot prove that Jesus rose from the dead.
We
cannot prove that we ourselves will experience resurrection. There is no scientific way to prove this.
It’s
not like combining two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen and coming up
with water. But, I can say this.
I
have experienced the “mystery” – and that’s what it is, “mystery,” something
beyond full human comprehension and rationality. I have experienced the mystery of dying
leading to new life.
But…My Experience of Dying and Rising
For example, there have been times when I have
offended someone with a curt or insensitive comment.
I can think of occasions when I needed to die to my
pride and say, “I’m sorry. I should never have said that.
“Please
forgive me?” I have experienced that this
dying to myself in these situations has led to new life in a relationship with
a friend or a parishioner.
I also look back to the days when I was in
elementary school and high school. My
parents had kind of a structure for my brother and me to make sure we would get
our homework done.
We didn’t always like this and sometimes would have
preferred doing lots of others things.
But this gave us good habits.
There was a certain dying to self in this. And it led us to become more educated and
fuller adults, more alive persons.
But…Dying and Rising in Nature
I also see this mystery of dying and rising in the world
of nature.
A seed goes into the ground. It seems like a lifeless, dead seed and it
actually gets buried in the soil.
We all know what happens.
It comes to life and sprouts and eventually we will see flowers like
snapdragons or vegetables like zucchini.
We’re seeing this right now as the bulbs in the ground
come back to life and crocuses or daffodils emerge. Dying in this way leads to new and fuller
life.
But…The Experience within Us
And then there is the experience within each of us simply
of wanting life.
We want to live. In
fact, we always want better life and more life.
I also believe that our desire for more of anything – for more
money or a nicer home or whatever it is – these desires for more are really the
desire for more and more life. I believe
that this is an indication of the divine within us.
It is an indication that there is a transcendent God and
that there is a life that transcends this life.
It is an indication that there is a life after and beyond death – a
resurrected life.
And Jesus Leads Us
The last thing I want to say is
that the way of Jesus leads us to life.
Jesus or his way leads us to
fuller and fuller life and sparks within us the hope of resurrection. For example, my experience is that I am most
fully alive when I feel compassion for those who are suffering or in need.
I am most fully alive when I am
faithful to my life or vocation commitment, even when that’s hard to do. I am most fully alive when I am a peacemaker
and try to build bridges between people and participate in community with
others.
The core of Jesus’ way is that my dying to making myself
the center of everything leads me to a fuller and fuller life. The dying leads to rising.
Conclusion
So,
yes, I cannot scientifically prove that Jesus rose and that we will experience
resurrection.
But my
life experience tells me that this is so.
And my living with trust in Jesus, with faith, confirms this for me and gives
me hope.
