Paschal Sermon: Who Ate and Drank With Him

Sermon for Pascha Morning 4/4/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2,14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18

Title: Who Ate and Drank with Him

My brothers and sisters, it is so good to hear that I want us to say it again: Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

This is our feast, this is your feast. All of you are welcome to feast with the Lord today. Whether you have joined in all our services and acts of preparation during Lent and Holy Week, or whether you only enter into this house of prayer on this day and at Christmas, none of that matters today. Whether you have fasted during Lent or have lived life as normal, forget about that today. For this is your feast! Let us all celebrate and rejoice.

For this is the day when the entire creation is made new. When the true Passover lamb, sacrificed on behalf of all humanity, has himself passed over from death into new and everlasting life.

And so we sing, Alleluia!

My dear friends: Jesus is alive! God is at work today in this world, in our lives!

But, however, …it’s not always easy to see this. Often it can be quite difficult to sing Alleluia. I can understand why the cynics doubt the reality of God at work in the world today. There are so many horrible, discouraging, painful things that happen every day.

But, at the same time, like small seeds that are springing up out of the dark soil, there are so many signs of this new life and hope even in the midst of this world of suffering.

Just last week, I read about a remarkable little incident that occurred at St. Paul’s Church just up the road a bit in Camden. As heavy snow was falling back on Saturday, February 6th (do you remember all that snow, by the way?!), Father Martin received a phone call from the Vicar of St. Stephen’s Church in Mullica Hill. Her parish was scheduled to come up to St. Paul’s the next day to supply and to serve their weekly Sunday night supper for the homeless and all who wish to attend. But, due to the 28 inches of snow that was falling over the weekend, she was sorry to say that her parish would not be able to assemble for this task. So Father Martin began thinking of a back-up plan. Snow or no snow, the hungry need to be fed! However, in less than a half-hour, before he had even put down his reading and gotten out of his chair, he received another phone call. This one was from the wife of the rector at Holy Trinity Church in Collingswood. It seems that they had a funeral at Holy Trinity Church that same Saturday morning, and since the snow was falling so strongly, very few people had attended. The family of the deceased had pre-ordered a catered meal for about 90 people and now they did not know what to do with all this food! So, on Sunday afternoon, the catered food from Collingswood was brought over and it fed all 96 people who showed that night for St. Paul’s Sunday night supper.

Was this a miracle? Not exactly. It is simply the way that God has always worked, and the way that God continues to work. God is simply full of surprises.

Of course, this entire story of Jesus’ resurrection was a complete surprise! Even those closest to Jesus did not expect it: Mary Magdalene, Peter, the other beloved disciple.

What is it that Peter preaches after the resurrection?

“They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day.”

They meant it for evil; but God was able to bring good out of it. It looked like a horrible tragedy; but God turned it into the most beautiful and glorious good!

This is good news. But here is another surprise. Peter continues his preaching and says: “We are the ones who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Think about that statement: after he rose from the dead, we got together and ate dinner and drank some wine together! What?! That doesn’t sound like some kind of ghost, at all, does it? It sounds like a real-live flesh and blood person, a real man.

And now I’ll let you in on a secret: we’re still doing this! Here is the greatest surprise yet: we continue to eat and drink with this very same living Jesus all the time. He is risen, and through the Holy Spirit, he lives in our midst today. In fact, he is the meal himself!

No one in their right mind could have ever predicted this course of history. The Word made flesh broken on the cross, but raised again and given to us so that you and I might be transformed and made new. So that we might live as his body in the world, continuing to go about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil. So that we might continue his ministry in this world. This God is certainly full of surprises!

In your bulletin, it states that in just a few minutes we will say together the Nicene Creed. But that is a mistake. There will be a small change in the program. On this morning, all the entire Church throughout the world celebrates together the precious gift of our baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. And so together, we too will renew our baptismal vows (and we will bless water for the font as a tangible sign of our baptism.)

When we enter into this house of prayer (St. Luke’s - When we come forward to this Altar), many among us will touch the water and will cross ourselves. Why do we do this? It is simply one way to remind ourselves of our true identity, to remember who we are.

Once, each one of us was baptized with water and chrismated with oil in order to mark us forever as members of Christ. Adopted forever, and unless we choose to walk away, never to be thrown out or rejected. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

This good news is meant for the entire world, but as Peter says, we are ones chosen by God to be witnesses to the truth. We are ones blessed to eat and drink with Christ now. We are ones who are so privileged to know him, to trust him, to love him, to live in his constant presence.

Praise be to God for the awesome power revealed on this day in the resurrection of Christ. On this day the Lord has acted; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.