Easter Vigil: Mark:16:1-7

Go and tell his disciples and Peter…

A first year student in a Catholic seminary was told by the dean that he should plan to preach the sermon in chapel the following day. He had never preached a sermon before, he was nervous and afraid, and he stayed up all night, but in the morning, he didn’t have a sermon. He stood in the pulpit, looked out at his classmates and said “Do you know what I am going to say?” All of them shook their heads “no” and he said “Neither do I. The service has ended. Go in peace.”

The dean was not happy. “I’ll give you another chance tomorrow, and you had better have a sermon.” Again he stayed up all night; and again he couldn’t come up with a sermon. Next morning, he stood in the pulpit and asked “Do you know what I am going to say?” The students all nodded their heads “yes.” “Then there is no reason to tell you” he said. “The service has ended. Go in peace.”

Now the dean was angry. “I’ll give you one more chance; if you don’t have a sermon tomorrow, you will be asked to leave the seminary.” Again, no sermon came. He stood in the pulpit the next day and asked “Do you know what I am going to say?” Half of the students nodded “yes” and the other half shook their heads “no.” The student preacher then announced “Those who know, tell those who don’t know. The service has ended. Go in peace.”

The seminary dean walked over to the student, put his arm over the student’s shoulders, and said “Those who know, tell those who don’t know. Today, the gospel has been proclaimed.”

The Angel told Mary Magdelene to go and tell his disciples and Peter…

Now that you know he has been raised, your job is to go and tell others. Today we have 7 people joining the Church. Like Mary Magdalene told others, there were some who told them about Jesus and finally they came to Sr.Lynn to hear more about the Risen Christ. And finally they were convinced that Jesus is really risen Indeed. The greatest proof of the resurrection of Jesus is not the empty tomb. Empty tomb is only a sign. Jesus didn’t need to roll the stone away to come out of the tomb, if he could appear before the disciples sitting in locked rooms.

Conversion of Saul, an enemy of Jesus into the most zealous Apostle Paul, is also a proof that Jesus rose from the dead.

Pastor Rick Calhoun writes, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was never meant to be proved but experienced. From time to time people ask if the resurrection of Jesus can be proved. It can't. What's more, Jesus himself has never wanted it proved. He has always wanted followers, not detectives. No one can really wrap one’s head around the fact of resurrection. We can never fully understand it. We have to take the word of others who were witnesses. Those early witnesses were very passionate about their testimonies. Many were to be martyred in defense of their convictions. But ultimately the resurrection is to be experienced, not proved. The most convincing evidence of the Resurrection of Christ is the transformation of the people who know Jesus and believe in Him. Twelve men were not going to give up their lives to simply perpetuate that which they know to be a hoax. The resurrection is not proven by science or knowledge, but by faith. You do not say: resurrected Christ, appear to me and then I will believe. It is just the opposite. The resurrected Christ appeared only to those who did believe. The angel told Mary: Go to Galilee and there you will find him. I would think that Galilee represents the community of believers. Galilee was to be the place where Jesus would plainly reveal to his followers that he was indeed alive. He did not reveal himself to the Caiaphas and Pilates and Herods of the world. Only those who believed him saw him. Jesus did not go around waxing fingers to the Chief priests telling: hay guys, you challenged me to come down from the cross and you would believe…see now I am here..No, he did not say that. He showed himself to the believers only to strengthen their belief. And afterwards he ascended to the Father.

The risen Jesus chose to show himself to the Community of believers. When Thomas doubted Jesus did not go find Thomas alone. Only when he came back to the Community that Thomas found the risen Jesus. We make the mistake of trying to find Jesus alone by staying away from the Community of believers even on mandated days. Faith is shared in the community and enriched in the community.  

Now two brothers and five sisters are coming into the faith community by baptism, confirmation and Eucharist. Will we help them experience the resurrection in their life?  We would be renewing our baptismal promises shortly. In baptism we die with Christ. Well, we are not going to kill them, but they willingly choose to die in Christ. The advantage of dying in Christ is that they will never die.  Corrie Ten Boom put it like this: "In the forest fire, there is always one place where the fire cannot reach. It is the place where the fire has already burned itself out. Calvary is the place where the fire of God's judgment against sin burned itself out completely. It is there that we are safe." So,when a Christian dies with Christ at baptism and he can die no more. And since Christ rose from the dead a Christian rises with him. In this dying their sins are forgiven. Imagine you owed a huge debt to somebody. He cannot charge you once you are dead. With your death all your debts are gone with you. In the same way all your sins will be gone now. But then you rise with Christ. And so, it is not the old self that you are going to get. It is a new life. So your old debtor cannot say you are the same so give me what you owe me. It is like grafting yourself into the stock of Christ. You are there, but you live on the stock of Christ and you get the nutrition and sap from the stock that is Christ.
Those of us now going to die in Christ and those already dead in Christ, remember that we have now only one life, ie is in Christ; as Paul said whether I live or die, I do that in Christ. In our creed we profess Jesus as the Light from Light. When we celebrate this Easter, let’s live in the light of Christ, who rose from the dead. Alleluiah.