The Whole Story

 At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter
    Then Prince Charming kissed Snow White, she awoke, and they lived happily ever after.  Imagine for a second that was the only part of the story that you focused on, or that was told.  We’ve probably heard or watched the story of Snow White so many times, that we could tell it without any trouble.  But maybe there are some parts we forget, or that we pass over because we don’t find them important.  And in passing over them, we miss out on the importance of the ending.
    We just sat through the Reader’s Digest version of Salvation History, especially concerning the Paschal Mystery of the Lord.  We have probably heard some of these stories before, but how well do we remember them?  And these aren’t fairy tales.  These are part of God’s revelation that tell us how to get to heaven.  These are the accounts of just how much God loves us and how we worked from our very beginning to save us from sin and death.  These are the accounts which foreshadowed what Jesus would suffer, and how He would be raised from the dead.  
    But so often we just focus on the end.  All we hear (or want to hear) is: Then Prince Charming kissed Snow White, she awoke, and they lived happily ever after.  But we miss out on just how powerful Jesus’ Death and Resurrection were if we don’t hear the story that led up to it.  
    In Genesis we heard two accounts: the Creation of the Universe and the (almost) sacrifice of Isaac.  We heard the story of how God created the world, and created all things good, not out of any necessity, but simply because He willed to create.  We heard the story of how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, his beloved son, and how Isaac had to carry the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain on his back, and was willing to lay down his life simply because his father, Abraham asked.  
    As we celebrate tonight, we know that God has recreated the world.  On this first day, when God created light, the light of the Resurrection, symbolized by the light of the Paschal Candle and the lights that grew from it as our candles were lit, shines forth.  As we celebrate tonight, we know that, while God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, even though Isaac was willing to be sacrificed by his father, God did not stop the sacrifice of His Son, His Beloved, Jesus, who was also willing to be sacrificed.  And if that faith of Abraham was what made him righteous, so the sacrifice of Jesus has now justified us all, and allowed us to become the children of Abraham, and even the children of God by adoption in His Son.
    Tonight we heard how the Chosen People passed from slavery to Pharaoh through the Red Sea and came out from the other side as truly free people on their way to the Promised Land.    Tonight, we celebrate how God truly led us from slavery to Satan to our path to freedom to Heaven, which the Promised Land foreshadowed.  By going through the waters of baptism, by dying with Christ in those waters, we rise to new life.  We’re not there yet; we’re still on the road to the Promised Land, but we’ve been set on the right path, and the danger of Satan can be behind us, no longer to oppress us, if we live as God’s People.
    Tonight we heard the prophecies of Isaiah who told us that God is our husband, who loves us.  Though it looked for a while like God abandoned us, He will never leave us or stop loving us.  He has drawn us back to Himself and given us treasures beyond value.  God has called us to the waters that satisfy, and invited us to seek Him while He can be found.  His Word will have its effect.  Tonight we celebrate that our Bridegroom, Jesus, has given us His all, as every husband is called to do, even to the point of death.  It looked like He left us, like He wasn’t the Messiah we hoped He would be, but the Father raised Jesus up, not only the fulfillment of our hope, but going far beyond what we ever could have hoped for.  God has given us the living waters of baptism to truly quench our thirst, and we are invited to seek after God to find the justification we desire.  God’s Word has its effect, and is already transforming the world to be more like what He created it to be.  
    Tonight we heard from the Prophet Baruch, who encouraged us to seek after the wisdom of God.  And the Prophet Ezekiel told of how God let us see the consequence of following other so-called gods, but will bring us back to the Promised Land and give us a new heart and a new spirit, so that we can live by His decrees.  Tonight we celebrate that in the suffering of Jesus, we saw what our sins deserved, how not following the wisdom of God leads to death.  But in the rising of Jesus, we received a new heart and a new spirit, through the waters of baptism being poured upon us, cleansing us of all past impurities, to that we can live according to the wisdom of God.
    

Resurrection tapestry from the Vatican Museums

And that led us to the joyful proclamation of the angel, appearing like a young man, who announced that Jesus is not dead, but has been raised, and has gone before us.  Again, this is new beyond all hope, because the ancient sentence of death, given to us from our disobedience in Adam and Eve, had been executed, but not upon us, and so we are free from that guilt because Jesus took that guilt and punishment upon Himself.  The new creation, new life, freedom from slavery, the love of God, the waters of life, the wisdom of God, and a new heart and new spirit God promised in the Old Testament are all ours, if we receive as our own what Jesus won by His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  
    That’s the bigger picture.  That’s a larger piece of the story.  And that larger story helps us to understand the Resurrection.  Because we have heard the story, the ending is all the much sweeter: “‘You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.  He has been raised.’”  Now that’s a way to live happily ever after!