A Homily for The Great Vigil of Easter
April 8, 2023
Text: Romans 6:3-11
Let none fear death, for the death of the Savior has set us free. Christ is risen and the demons have fallen. Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I would be lying if I told you that I had some deep, theological insight into the mysteries of Holy Week and the events of our Lord’s Passion, death, and resurrection.
The truth is that the words I have to offer are really just a feeble attempt to make sense of something far greater and more powerful than we can possibly imagine.
Which is why I’m so thankful for the Prayer Book and the liturgies of Holy Week that help us better understand the meaning and significance of this special time in the life of the Church.
The liturgies of Holy Week—including Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter—preach themselves in a very profound way, not only through the words we speak and the hymns we sing but also through the experience of walking with Christ from the Upper Room on the night before he died, to the cross on Good Friday, and finally to the tomb, where he was laid to rest, awaiting the day of resurrection.
Think about all we’ve experienced with Jesus over the past three days—
The washing of feet on Maundy Thursday, reminding us of our Lord’s commandment to love and serve others.
The Bread and Wine of the Eucharist, reminding us that we are the Body of Christ, broken and poured out for the life of the world.
The Stripping of the Altar, reminding us that our Lord was betrayed and handed over to suffering and death.
The crown of thorns, reminding us of the suffering servant who went to the cross on our behalf.
The hard wood of the Cross, reminding us that Jesus died so that we may be forgiven and reconciled with God.
The newly kindled fire, reminding us that not even death could contain Jesus.
The water of Baptism, reminding us that we have been buried with Christ in his death and raised to newness of life.
And the first, “Alleluia,” our great Easter proclamation, reminding us that death has been defeated once and for all and that Christ has indeed risen from the grave.
All of these are outward and visible signs that the Holy Spirit is at work, stirring up in us that which the world cannot give—a hope that can no longer be contained.
On this night, we celebrate the Passover of the Lord.
“This is the night, when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness of life.”
“This is the night, when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave.”
“This is the night,” according to one author, “that is like day, the dawn of reconciliation, peace, and the forgiveness of sin.”
This is the night, when we are once again reminded that not even the shadow of death can separate us from the love of God and that darkness always gives way to the light.
In the sixteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, just before Jesus is betrayed and arrested, he tells his disciples that he’ll be with them only a little while longer and that they’ll soon grieve and mourn for him.
Knowing that his time is short, Jesus says to them, “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”
“Now is your time of grief,” Jesus says, “but I will see you again and you will rejoice…”
Rejoice. It’s the first word of the ancient Easter hymn, the Exsultet, proclaimed each year at the beginning of the Great Vigil of Easter.
“Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels…”
“Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth…”
“Rejoice and be glad now, Mother Church…”
Rejoice is the word we use to proclaim that death and sin no longer have dominion over us and that grief and suffering have given way to joy.
That’s what this night is all about.
But, it’s important for us to remember that the joy of Easter isn’t a cure for the brokenness of our world, and it isn’t a goal to reach, as if everything else we’ve experienced during Holy Week is simply an obstacle to overcome.
In other words, we can’t forget everything we went through to get to this night because the life of a Christian—and the work we’re called to do—is full of both Good Friday moments and Easter moments.
As Christians, we’re baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus.
St. Paul said it this way in his letter to the Romans:
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
What this means is that we’re continually called to die to self and to love others as Christ loved us—with the same self-giving, sacrificial love he demonstrated on the cross.
And in the process of dying to self and following the example of Jesus, we grow more and more into the full stature of Christ and experience the resurrected life that God desires for each of us.
The Lord needs us.
Because, even in the midst of our Easter joy, the world continues to revolve, and people continue to suffer, looking for signs of God’s light and God’s love in the midst of the darkness.
The Lord needs us to carry the light of Christ with us wherever we go.
The great joy that we experience at Easter is hope for the world—a sign that all is not lost, that God is still present in our lives, working in us and through us.
Our great joy at Easter is the hope that, in the fullness of time, God’s dream of heaven on earth will finally be fulfilled.
But, until that day comes, let us continue to serve God by offering ourselves as instruments of God’s love and mercy to this broken and suffering world, and let us rejoice without ceasing in the saving work of God in Christ. Amen.
The Rev. Eric Mancil 