Pastor
~ The Passover story is always part of the Easter Vigil. We sang this great story tonight, remembering that God saved his people from slavery in Egypt, by leading them through the waters of the Red Sea into freedom. This story is, of course, a metaphor for the Christian life, that God brings us from slavery to sin, through the waters of baptism, into new life. In the Exodus story, the people of Israel are overjoyed that God has given them this victory, and so they rejoice at the edge of the sea and sing the song of freedom. We sang it tonight! God has won the victory! There is a well-known Jewish midrash on the Exodus story where the angels of heaven are rejoicing with the Israelites at what God has accomplished for his people. The angels sing and rejoice, but God wants nothing to do with their happiness. Instead God weeps and says to the angels, “My people, my beloved Egyptians, are lying dead in the sea, and you sing songs of rejoicing?”
The midrash says that God was not angry with the Israelites for singing and rejoicing at the shore of the Red Sea. They had just escaped great danger. It was only human that they express their relief and their joy. But the angels were supposed to have a broader perspective. They should have known and remembered that the spark of God is in every person, in the Egyptian charioteers, and even in the Pharaoh himself.
Tonight, it is easy for us to see the spark of God in Lexie, who will be baptized in just a few moments. Those who know her and love her have seen her faith blossom and grow. We can see how God has loved her and led her to this moment, and so we rejoice with her. It is easy for us to see the spark of God in Andy and Matt and Sam, who will be received into the Catholic Church tonight. Through their family, through their study, through their life, God has led them to this moment, and we rejoice with them. It is easy for us to see the spark of God in everyone who gathers this night, all of us who have journeyed through the penitence of Lent to renew our baptismal promises tonight, celebrating the gift of new life that God gives to his children. Our joy is real and overflowing on this Easter night. Indeed, we proclaim: God has won the victory!
But like the angels, we who rejoice tonight are called to have a broader perspective; we are tasked to remember that God takes away our stony hearts and gives us loving hearts of flesh, as we heard tonight. We are called to see the spark of divine life in everyone and in all creation, especially in those who are hurting or in pain on this night of resurrection. As members of the Body of Christ, we can never fully rejoice when one part of the body is still suffering.
We must believe and proclaim that God is with the suffering people of Iran. Despite what we may be told, they are not our enemy. Even their leaders and the Revolutionary Guard are not our enemy. No, hatred is defeated this night, so we say that they are fellow citizens of the world and children of God. We rightly mourn and honor the American service members killed in the war, but does God not also weep for the Iranians killed? God weeps for the half-million Russians and Ukrainians killed in four years of war, and for the millions killed in the Holy Land over centuries of war. God weeps for all those killed in St. Louis by gun violence this year, and God weeps for the detainees who have died at the St. Louis City Justice Center. God weeps for Renee Good and Alex Pretti and God weeps for the ICE agents who killed them. God weeps for babies who are aborted and God weeps for those who are executed by the state. Yes, the light of the risen Christ, the light of our Easter celebration which filled our Church this night, must be brought into every dark corner of our world.
Because, you see, Jesus’ victory over death is a gift for all people. Jesus died and rose to new life to bring every person hope and peace. It is a gift, not just for us here tonight, not just a gift for Americans, not even just a gift for Christians! No, the whole cosmos has been redeemed by the death of the Lord. And it is our task during these Easter days to see that this message is proclaimed to all the world!
So we rejoice this night, and we take strength from our gathering, from the stories of the Scriptures, and from this Eucharist, that we may bring the love of Christ outside the doors of this Church into a world that needs to hear the Good News that we proclaim tonight: that the power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.
That is the message and the challenge of this most holy night. Friends, God has won the victory! Let us make this message known to all the world!
