April 20, 2025 – Easter Sunday
Fr. Cal Calhoun
In the name of God, the God of love who ushers in new life: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
This morning we celebrate an empty tomb. By itself, that might seem a strange thing to celebrate.
The disciples thought it was a strange thing to celebrate. If you’ll remember from our gospel reading, the women returned from the tomb and shared the message from the angels about Jesus having been raised from the dead. And what was the disciples’ response? Luke tells us, “But these words seemed to the disciples an idle tale, and they did not believe the women.”
If you have ever wondered about this event. The unlikeliness of it. Be gentle with yourself. You are in good company. If someone you know and love, has expressed some doubts. Be gentle with them. They are in good company. The disciples themselves thought this an idle tale. Not until Peter and others got up and ran to the tomb, and really not until Jesus appeared to them, face to face, did they know what had really happened. They had the benefit of Jesus appearing to directly to them.
But Jesus didn’t get to this resurrection moment, this empty tomb, this Easter morning, without some suffering. If you have been with us the last few days, you know what Jesus has been through. He was captured. Tried in a sham trial. Mocked and beaten, and then hung on a cross. And there he died.
But God would not let death have the last word. And so death is not the end of Jesus’ story. Jesus, giving his life in love, was not free from suffering. And so it is, with us. None of us gets through this life without some manner of suffering. And some folks, we know, seem to have more than their share of suffering. Suffering doesn’t seem to be meted out on an equal basis.
Br. Curtis Almquist of SSJE, the Episcopal monastery in Boston, says it like this: Giving our life in love is not without suffering. Passion – Jesus’ passion and our passion – is both about love and suffering. The great mystery of life is how love and suffering coexist, and how they inform each other. In this life of love and suffering, Jesus shows us the way.
Jesus knows what suffering is like. Jesus knows what our individual suffering is like. Jesus shows us the way.
The good news though, is that the end is not the suffering. The end is love. The end of this story is that love wins. God would not let death have the last word. Out of love, God raises Jesus from the dead.
This story tells us, that wherever, or in the midst of whatever we find ourselves today, there is always, always a possibility of new life. There is always a possibility of a warm glowing light at the end of the tunnel. God would not let death have the last word. And so death is not the end of Jesus’ story. And as a result, death is not the end of our story. Love wins and resurrection happens.
This morning we celebrate new life. This morning we celebrate God’s love. This morning we celebrate resurrection. Amen.
Year C – Easter Sunday – April 20, 2025 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
