I have just come home from the Easter vigil in Kvinnherad Church in Kvinnherad, and the following is my homily. The readings are as follows: Genesis 1:1-5; 1:26-2:3; Exodus 14:1-4; 14:10-31; 15:20-21; Romans 6:3-11; and Mark 16:1-8. When quoting Scripture, I will use the Revised Standard Version (RSV), unless otherwise noted.
There is no collect for the Easter vigil, so the following prayer is my translation of the prayer when we lit the Paschal candle:
Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes for ever more. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. To Him belongs the glory now and for ever more. May the Light of Christ, who rises inn glory, chase away all darkness from hearts and minds. Amen.
“This is the night when Christ broke the chains of death and rose victorious from Hades.” These words we have sung this night in what we call the Exsultet or the Easter Proclamation. Because this night is all about victory. Through the resurrection of Christ we receive life. In 2 Timothy 1:9-10, St. Paul puts it like this: “[God] saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” But there is something special about the gospel of Jesus, something that separates Him from other so-called kings and emperors.
For us, the word “gospel” has become a technical Christian term, but for those who lived at the time of Jesus and onwards, including those who heard and read the letters to Timothy, this was a central and general political term. The word, which actually means “good news,” was used by kings, princes, and emperors to, among other things, mark their accession to the throne. After the “chaos” that occurred when a king, prince or emperor passed away or was overthrown, the new rules came to establish peace and stability. Or at least this was the rhetoric behind it. But for most people, it was more of the same. But we see something new with Jesus. He did not rule with an iron fist but with love and forgiveness. He is the ruler who serves. He called Himself the Christ, the Messiah, the representative of Israel. But He did not join the chain of the “Messiahs” who only saw themselves as political figures who came to free from earthly oppression, from Romans or the corrupt Israeli government. Now, He said that He was the Lord of Lord and God Himself. But even if He said that His kingdom is not of this world, He, and His followers, were seen as threats, because of the gospel. For the rule of Christ relativises the rule of kings, princes, and emperors. So threatening was this that Herod the Great ordered the killing of all male children in Bethlehem up to 2 years old just to get rid of Jesus, and his grandchild, Herod Agrippa, killed James, the brother of Jesus, imprisoned Peter, and took a hard line against the Christians, precisely because they preached the gospel of Christ, the lordship of Christ. By using the term “gospel,” St. Paul, and all Christians, say that Christ is Lord, not Herod, not Caesar, Augustus, or Napoleon, not even Haakon, Olav, or Harald. And he says that Jesus is not just king in Israel, in the Roman Empire, in France, or in Norway, but Lord and King over the universe, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
The Easter gospel is this, that Christ is risen, and this crucified and resurrected Savior is Lord and King. And by his death and resurrection he has atoned for our sin. Because we are all sinners, we all need salvation. What we need to hear today is that there is a deep connection between the celebration of the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, the darkness of Good Friday, and the light of Easter. What the disciples thought was the end was lifted up as an offering to God.
The connection lies in the fact that Jesus gave Himself for us already during the Last Supper. “This is my body which is for you.” Christ’s sacrifice is not primarily about God being angry, and that Christ had to appease him. No, it is that Jesus gave to God what we are called to give, but are unable and often unwilling to give. Through a life of obedience, He gave himself fully and completely to God in thanksgiving, in worship, in praise. Christ interpreted His death through the prayers at the Last Supper and through the institution of the Eucharist. Death was transformed into a perfect worship of God, and this was then given back to us, in the word and in the sacraments, for salvation and peace, as Joseph Ratzinger says in one of his books.1
What one should believe was the greatest sin in world history, and the worst thing that could happen, became “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice for us. What was a mortal sin was transformed into worship. And this worship was perfect, and sufficient to atone for our sins. Christ’s sacrifice is not primarily about God being angry and Christ having to appease Him, but about Christ giving Himself completely to God, on our behalf.
Christ changed Adam’s sin. Where Adam was disobedient, Christ was obedient. He “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). And God answered by raising Christ from death to life: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9). And through baptism and faith we receive this. As St. Paul has told us today, we are baptised into Christ: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:4-5). We must, then, be in Christ. For through Him, we may be renewed so that we can approach Gid in thanksgiving, in worship, in praise.
We have died with Christ in baptism, we have had our sins washed away, and we have been raised from the waters of baptism to new life.
This is the night when Christ lifted humanity up to God. This is the night when Christ broke the chains of death and rose victorious from Hades. Look up at the altarpiece and see what Christ did for you, on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Receive the Eucharist. Because there we can, in thanks and praise, receive the body and blood of our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, that which He offered in atonement for all our sins. Through that He may strengthen us and keep us in the true faith onto everlasting life.
Our thanks and our praise will never reach what God has done for us, but we can still keep on, in the hope that death is not the end, that if we remain “in Christ,” we will one day be raised to a new heaven and a new earth. That is the gospel, that is good news.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, who was, is, and will remain, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Joseph Ratzinger, God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003), 29-30.