Last Easter, British comedian Ricky Gervais, in a Wall Street Journal article “An (Atheist) Easter Message,” expressed why he was not a Christian. He wrote that it is not because Jesus’ teachings would not make this world a better place, but rather how Christians failed to live up to His teachings. Measuring himself against the 10 commandments, he felt himself better than many who called themselves Christians. That may very well be true and we certainly know Christians who are bad examples to others. We may have been guilty of it ourselves. However, living the ethical life is not the essence of our Christian faith. The heart of our faith is God’s love for us. We are invited to respond to that love, by living according to His way: the way of love, faithfulness and mercy.
We are also taught to have faith and hope, even when darkness seems to overwhelm us. Daily we hear of murders, abductions, never ending wars and natural disasters. How can we have hope, when everything around us seems headed for destruction and death? However, what we celebrate at Easter is that the overwhelming power of death cannot conquer life and love. Through God’s grace, even the scars and wounds we bear from our losses and pain will not be with us forever. In fact, with faith and love, they can be turned to strengths. We can learn from our failures and tragedies, to build a better world because we are an Easter people.
What we rejoice at Easter, is that we do not have to be perfect to be loved by God. God could have easily destroyed us all when sin entered the world. However, God chose to come Himself to heal and restore us. Whenever we entrust our situations over to God, the God of mercy and forgiveness will help us. He desires to give us a full and abundant life, even when we prefer to stay where we are, alone and in the darkness.
We have done nothing to merit God’s graciousness, but God bestows His love freely upon us simply because we belong to Him. We are His, even when we deny Him. We are loved, even when we choose to go our own way and ignore Him. We are blessed with life and beauty, even when we do not believe in the One who created it all.
However, to those who have learned to see the goodness and beauty of God, and have expressed our appreciation through good deeds done for others, I imagine God smiling, winking an eye and nodding in appreciation. I imagine God saying to us, “Thank you! For you I have given my very best. For you, I have delighted to show you my love. For you, I have paid the price for sin, so that you do not have to live in fear. Rejoice! Celebrate the life I have given you and share my joy and love with those around you. Be merciful as I have been merciful with you. And when the time comes, do not be afraid to come home. I’ll leave the Light on for you, to lead you safely back home.”
Yes, in spite of the chaos and destruction around us, what we celebrate
today, Easter, is that life is also all around us. Author Clarence W. Hall once
wrote, “If Easter says anything to us today, it says this: You can put truth
in a grave,but it won't stay there.You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in
windingsheets and shut it up in a tomb,but it will rise!”Thank God He cared
enough to show us a way out of darkness. In the end, darkness will not
prevail, but Love, Light and Truth will. As St. Augustine once wrote, “We are
an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.”
With best wishes for a Blessed Easter Season from all of us at St. Brendan’s,
Fr. Daniel Nascimento
Pastor
