SYMBOLS OF THE RESURRECTION

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON APRIL 13th, 2008

                                                  

John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

 

The season of Easter is traditionally a time for Baptism.   This goes back to the early days of the Church when the only time that adults were baptized was at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. A remnant of that occurs when we renew our baptismal promises in that beautiful service.

 

The Easter Vigil contains great images of water and fire that we associate with Easter. The water of the newly blessed Font, and the fire outside, from which is lit the Paschal Candle. The Paschal Candle is the symbol of the Risen Christ - so for the fifty days of Easter it burns in the Sanctuary during every Mass, proclaiming the Risen Christ amongst us.

 

At the end of Easter, it will go down to the Font where it will be lit for all Baptisms, and also for funerals – because, being a symbol of the Risen Christ, it represents the eternal life we receive at baptism and which we pass to at our death.

 

The problem is, however, that symbols of the Resurrection like fire and water do not easily convey the fact. Fire and water could symbolize anything - it doesn’t necessarily mean the Resurrection of Jesus. Compare that with Christmas where we see symbols associated with the Birth of Jesus, like the Mother and Child, the Star, and the wise men. And the great symbol on Good Friday of the Cross – all these are easier identifiable with Jesus.

 

But when it comes to Easter, well I've never seen a young woman wearing a little silver replica of empty tomb on a chain around her neck!  We really have to symbolize Easter with more abstract symbols of new life, like fire and water. And the problem with symbolizing the Resurrection is further illustrated in to today's Gospel reading.

 

Today's theme is the Good Shepherd - we are thinking of Christ the Good Shepherd.   But what sort of image is that? How do we associate Jesus as a Shepherd?   Particularly in this day and age, when the concept of a shepherd is far removed from the symbol we often see, of Jesus in a long-flowing cope with a lamb round his neck.

 

Psalm 23 is probably the best-known piece of Scripture in the whole world - it is wonderful image of God as the loving Shepherd. But when it comes to symbolizing Jesus, again it's a bit abstract. It does convey something about the love of God and the way God cares for his people whom he knows and loves - but why would it convey the Resurrection? It's because of verse 11: "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" - an obvious reference to his dying and rising again, the mystery of Easter.

 

But what about verse 9 where he says: "I am the door".   I've never imagined Jesus as a door - a very interesting but difficult concept. But the next line is helpful when he says: "If anyone enters by me, he will be saved". So we might not hang a silver door around our neck, but we know that Jesus is the entrance to eternal life and being saved.

 

This immediately brings to mind the hymn of Saint Thomas Aquinas which we sing at Benediction: "O saving Victim opening wide, the Gate of Heaven". The gate of Heaven - now we are in familiar territory. Scripture refers to our Blessed Lord opening the gate of Heaven to all believers – and also in the Te Deum.

 

All these references to the gate of heaven have a direct reference to Baptism - for in baptism, we believe that one is now entering eternal life and stands at the gate of heaven. But it's not just promised to us - in baptism we receive eternal life. It is the gate of heaven because by his death and resurrection Jesus won for us eternal life - and we receive that life firstly at our Baptism.  

 

It is the action of God. God confers upon us this eternal life that Jesus won for us when he rose from the dead. That is why Baptism and Easter are intrinsically linked. As Saint Paul says in Romans: "Don't you know that when you were baptized you died with Christ?  Went into the tomb with him? That just as Jesus died and rose again, so we might rise to a new life in him".

 

This of course brings us to John 10.10: "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly".  A more modern translation is: "have it to the full".  

 

The whole purpose of Jesus Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection was so that you and I might have life in abundance - life to the full. If for no other reason, that is why Christians are joyful - even when the going is tough. We, of all people, should always have a humorous outlook on things. Indeed, when the going is tough it is our humor and our joy that keep us from falling.

 

So Christians are joyful people even though sometimes we hurt. We are joyful because we already have this life in abundance that Jesus promised. The biggest mistake that people make is to think that we get eternal life when we die. That somehow that's when it becomes our gift. It's not true - we get it at our Baptism. And from now on we have life in abundance.

 

And eternal life is not all we receive at our Baptism. Of course we receive God's grace.   But let me quote words written by Andre Louth, a modern spiritual writer, in his book "Teach us to pray". In reference to Baptism he says these words: "From then on we have a continuing contact with God". A continuing contact with God.

 

Of course sometimes we don't think we have contact with God, sometimes we do become a bit slack. But even if we fall away, even if we stop praying, or stop worshipping, or lose our sense of being disciples of Jesus - God is always near. He will always keep the contact. He's always at our side. Always waiting for us.

 

Let me conclude with a story to illustrate this. Douglas Hyde was a prominent British communist. He was committed to communism from his youth, but gradually he became disillusioned. Because of the dominating power he saw communism having in people's lives, and because of its blatant atheism.   So he began to look elsewhere for a different rationale for living. He began to read the works of those well-known British christian writers G. K. Chesterton, and Hilaire Belloc. He became a person who intellectually believed the Christian Gospel, but he never got the gift of faith - it seemed to elude him.

 

One day going to work in London, he chanced by Saint Ethelreda's Church, a medieval church which is in the business centre of London. He began to call into that Church regularly just to sit there, as so many people do in that church. One day in the evening the church was dark and a young woman came in and genuflected to the tabernacle.   He could see she was deeply troubled. She went to where the candles were lit at the shrine of Mary. She lit a candle and knelt in prayer for some moments. Then she got up and left. As she passed him, he could see that the look of trouble had now been replaced by a look of smiling. He reflected on what had transpired to turn that young woman's countenance from deep trouble to joy.

 

When she had gone - and making sure that no one was around - he got up the courage to do the same. He went to the shrine and lit a candle and knelt before the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But he couldn't pray. He didn't know what to say. Then he remembered the words of a 1920's song from his youth that goes like this: "Oh sweet and lovely lady, be good: oh lady, be good to me".   And he sung them to himself as the only way he could respond.  When he eventually got up to leave, he too was smiling - for he had been given the gift of faith.

 

May all of us in this church today be people who also smile - because we are people who have the gift of faith.