Third Sunday in Easter

“God exalted [Jesus] at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). The wonders God has done are meant to be shouted aloud; they cannot be kept secret or hidden. Even though mankind rejected the preaching and healing of Jesus, God raised him from the dead and gave him a name above every other name. God is faithful, even when we are not. God did not change his mind in healing the rupture between us and him, even when we rejected the remedy he sent. Leonard Bernstein wrote this:

You can lock up the bold men
Go and lock up your bold men and hold
Men in tow
You can stifle all adventure
For a century or so
Smother hope before it’s risen
Watch it wizen like a gourd
But you cannot imprison
The Word of the Lord

(Leonard Bernstein)

Even when we become lukewarm, our God continues to be a consuming fire. The tomb of the Lord is empty, despite the presence of a guard and seal. God’s love and mercy are everlasting and cannot be stifled by a hardhearted world. Nothing can suppress God’s love, nothing. The gentle sounds of God’s love are not silenced by the shouts of hatred that try to outshout them. The Word of God is risen from the dead and will not be silenced. I am mindful of the courage of our brothers who are being persecuted for their faith. These words of Gandhi speak to their tenacity.

They will imprison us, and they will fine us. They will seize our possessions, but they cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.

They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me, then they will have my dead body. Not my obedience!

 The resurrection of Christ is both a joy and a challenge. We are called to be ministers of life in a culture of death. We are called to be rays of hope for a world cloaked in darkness. We are called to be a healing balm for a world wounded by hatred and division. We are called to be agents of forgiveness and reconciliation in a world overwhelmed by guilt and shame. We should never tire of repeating the Easter antiphon: Christ is risen for the dead. By death, he conquered death, and to those in the tomb, he granted life.

The message is true, even if people refuse to believe it. The message needs to be repeated, even if people refuse to listen. No matter what adversity we may face, God is One, and His Christ is victorious. There is no chaining the Word of the Lord. This brought to mind a poem found on the wall of the Cologne concentration camp.

“I believe in the sun
even when it is dark;

And I believe in God,
even when He is silent.
And I believe in neighborly love,
Even though it is unable to reveal itself.
May there someday be sunshine,
May there someday be happiness,
May there someday be love,
May there someday be peace.”

(written by a Jew in the Cologne concentration camp)

Christ is risen from the dead. The Paschal proclamation is true even when we are enveloped in darkness and confusion. The chants of Easter joy may be muffled in Ukraine, the Middle East, and parts of Africa, but the sun has not gone away. It shines brightly, even when blanketed by thick, dense clouds. Even when people can’t see the sun, even when people can’t hear God’s voice, they can experience God’s provident care through acts of radical neighborly love. May we always be lights of hope for those in darkness

Almighty God, enable us to love you more fervently, to serve you more sincerely, to be more devoted to you, and to be wholly yours and yours alone. For Christ is risen.