Faith Matters 38: For The Gardner News, April 14, 2007
The Triumph of Easter
A “fire jumper”, a volunteer fire fighter who parachutes into forest fires, once explained in an interview why he does this. His simple reason was “because it makes me feel fully alive!” Most of us have never felt the least urge to parachute into blazing forests, but we recognize that universal human desire to be fully alive. Being fully alive means finding something we believe in, something larger than ourselves, to give our lives meaning and direction. It means feeling the freedom and exhilaration of channeling our best selves into this endeavor. It means finding like minded others to share the experience with. In scripture, this is called “abundant life.” For Christians, the triumph of Easter is the opening to this new and abundant life.
For the disciples who followed Jesus, the days leading up to that first Easter were filled with fear, exposing their all too human failings. Despite their swagger and promises, when the going got tough they denied Jesus and abandoned him to the Roman authorities. After his death, they went into hiding. And despite the tales of the women who found the tomb empty and brought back stories of encounters with the risen Christ, on the night of that first Easter the disciples huddled together in their upper room and locked the doors for fear that they might be the next victims. One can only imagine what was going through their minds!
Then, the risen Christ enters the locked room and stands among them. Instead of chastising them for having abandoned him or not believing in him, Christ reaches out to them in their fear, their guilt, and their disbelief. He shows them his wounded hands and side. Only then do they understand it is really Jesus; and they begin to rejoice. He breathes his Spirit of peace into them, the deep peace of God that passes all human understanding, and in that moment they are transformed. They step into a new and abundant life, unfettered by fear, even fear of death. They are freed from the weight of guilt and shame and sent to offer forgiveness to others just as they have received it. They come fully alive as they embrace the new and abundant life that the risen Christ offers them.
The disciples are transformed. They become fearless and passionate about the new life, “the way” that Jesus taught them, but which they only begin to understand in the light of the resurrection. They embrace Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God, the world lived according to God’s values. And they start to create communities that embody the peace of Christ, caring for others, offering forgiveness in Christ’s name, working for justice. They shared the Spirit that they had received with others that they too might be fully alive.
Within three hundred years, the passion of these once fearful disciples had changed the face of the world forever. And that same Spirit lives today, touching and filling the lives of men and women, making them fully alive as they live the vision that Jesus taught, living lives of faith, caring, commitment, justice, mercy and generosity of Spirit. They teach us what it means to be fully alive, and remind us that this abundant life is God’s gift offered to all of us. Even now, wherever we are, the risen Christ stands among us, ready to offer us his peace, his Spirit, and a chance to be fully alive.