The Hope of Heaven: A Homily for the Easter Vigil
Preached by Br James Koester SSJE
As a child, I was so often wishing for things that my Grandmother frequently had to tell me not to wish my life away. I was always wishing for things. And if I wasn’t wishing for one thing, I was wishing for the next thing. I wished for all the usual things, like the summer holidays to come, or the first snow to fall. I wished that I would get this book or that toy for my birthday, or for Christmas. I wished for the end of exams, or that a certain event would, or would not happen. At one point, I even remember wishing that my fish tank full of guppies would have their babies while I was watching, so that I could see the miracle of birth for myself, but also so that I could see the adult guppies trying to eat the baby guppies as they were born!
In that department (the wishful thinking department, not the guppy one), I don’t think that I’m alone. Our world is full of wishful thinkers, wishing for all kinds of things, from good grades, to new jobs, to winning the lottery, to finding a parking place, to losing weight. Whole industries exist to fulfil some aspect of that wishful thinking, through the latest self-help book, diet fad, or new gadget. We are a world of wishful thinkers.
Somewhere along the line however, in amidst all this wishful thinking, we have become confused. What was once hoped in, we now wish for. For many, wishful thinking has distorted our understanding of hope, so much so, that as Christians our sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord is little more than wishful thinking in some fairly tale. In this world of wishful thinking, the resurrection has become something that is wished for, at some future point, and is not a present reality we live in today.
If that is all the resurrection is, some kind of wishful thinking about some sort of future idyllic existence, then I don’t know why I am here tonight. Why are any of us here? I may as well be getting ready for bed, or having a beer at the local pub, and bought a lottery ticket while I was at it.
For the Christian, hope is not about wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is a fantasy. It is a fairytale. It is a daydream. Wishful thinking will probably never come true, and if it does, you simply move onto the next one on your list. Hope, on the other hand, is about living into a present reality that we cannot yet fully see.
It is this, that we mean when we say Sunday by Sunday, and day by day, I believe in the resurrection of the body. The resurrection is not some bit of wishful thinking, which may or may not happen, probably isn’t true, but is fun to imagine anyway. The resurrection is something we hope in, knowing it to be true, because it is the reality in which we now live, but cannot yet fully comprehend.
This is what Paul means in tonight’s epistle when he says [do] you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Paul is not speaking here of some sweet by and by, pie in the sky, wishful thinking, about something that may, or may not happen, or even be true. He is speaking of something that is true. He is speaking about something that has already happened. He is speaking about something into which we live more fully day by day. He is speaking about something that only at the end of time, will we fully comprehend.
When we say that we believe in the resurrection, or hear Paul say [but] if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus we are not simply speaking of the future. It is not simply about that day when [Christ] will gather us for the eternal banquet that will unite all God’s people in the joy of the Kingdom. This life we live in God through Jesus Christ is happening now. Just as it will be our life, so it is our life now.
None of us knows fully what the resurrection life will look like, because we cannot yet fully comprehend it. But we catch glimpses of it all around us, even in this moment. We Brothers say in our Rule of Life that [this] gift of hope is woven into the texture of our daily life as a community. Living, working and worshiping together as one body, calling nothing our own, we learn to anticipate the glory of the communion of saints, in which all joys are shared. The gift of hope is present whenever we minister to one another and to those whom God gives us to serve. Christ has promised that we shall bear fruit that lasts if we abide in him. Hope assures us that every act of witness, prayer and service that draws others into the life of divine love builds up the eternal city of God.
For many the idea of the resurrection is simply a fairy tale. It is wishful thinking. It is a daydream. It is a lie, a fable, and a myth. It has nothing to do with reality, or experience, or the present moment. But we do not come here year by year, Sunday by Sunday, day by day, to celebrate a lie. We come here to celebrate what we know to be true. Yet this truth that we know, we do not yet fully comprehend.
Like Paul [we] know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him, and with Paul we know ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. It is this life we share with Christ today, now, this instant, and in the promise of healing, forgiveness, and wholeness Christ gives us not only the courage, but also the hope and trust to say, I believe in the resurrection.
We are here, not because we are wishful thinkers, dreaming of a better life sometime, somewhere. We are here because we know something to be true, even though we cannot yet fully comprehend it. That something, is the promise of life already given to us by Christ, and which he proclaimed as he burst out of the tomb that first Easter Day.
Our acclamation Christ is Risen! is not some figment of our imagination. It is not a bit of wishful thinking. It is not a lie, a myth, or a fable. It is true. And we know it. And we see it. We know it, and see it, every time we have the courage to say I am sorry. We know it and see it every time we have the generosity to say I forgive you. We know it and see it every time we have the heart to say I love you.
To be alive to God in Christ Jesus is to live the life of God right now. That life was given to us in the waters of Baptism and is renewed in us through the hope of the resurrection that we celebrate today.
I don’t know what the resurrection will look like at the end of time, but I do know what it looks like today. And because I know what it looks like today, I have a sense of what it will look like tomorrow.
My friends, Christ is Risen is not a bit of wishful thinking. It is our hope. It is our hope, not only because we know it to be true, but because we see it in our lives. We know it and see it in times of courage, in moments of forgiveness, in acts of love. We know tonight that Christ has burst out of the tomb and embraces us with the life of God, not because we are wishful thinkers, but because we are filled with the hope of heaven. That hope of heaven gives us the courage to say tonight, not only I believe in the resurrection, but also Alleliua! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
