YEAR C 2025 festival of easter

Easter 2025
Acts 10:34-43
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Luke 24:1-12
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The men in dazzling clothes said to the women, “Remember how he told you . . .”  And then, “They remembered his words.”  Remember how he told you.  That is the thing to cling to today.  In fact, it is the thing to cling to every day.  Remember how he told you, and then remember what he said.

Like, remember how he told you, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Remember how he told you, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  Remember how he told you, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  Remember how he told you, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

But we forget, don’t we?  We get tired, and anxious, and worried, and lonely.  And we forget that Jesus told us he is still with us.  We forget that he said because I live, you also will live.  We forget that he said from the cross, “It is finished.”

But let’s go back to that reading from Luke, and the women at the tomb.  They have arrived there without hope, and they are there to do what needs to be done.  When they get to the tomb, the stone has been rolled away, and there is no body.  Just two days before, there was a body.  They saw it; that’s why they went home without hope to prepare the spices.  They had forgotten what he told them.  And then, two men in dazzling clothes are standing beside them, and the women are terrified.  And these men ask, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  Such a good question!

The messengers say, “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 

It’s not a question, asking them if they remember.  It is a statement, or even an encouragement:  “Remember how he told you.”  There’s not a question mark in the text.

For the women, the body of Jesus missing from the tomb is not good news.  Far from it!  The presence of two men in dazzling clothes is no cause for hope.  Far from it!  So then I ask you . . . Can you see where God is acting in this story?  Jesus is not there, so where is God?  Where is the hope they need in their time of need?  Where is God making a difference here?

The answer is, in the remembering.  The men—these angels—the ones in dazzling white are messengers from God.  And what have they done?  They have told the women to remember.  It’s not a new teaching.  Not a new insight.  Not a grand announcement.  It is . . . remembering.  The women already knew these words; they had already heard what would happen.  They just needed to remember.  And in remembering, they are given hope.  Keeping hope alive is what keeps us alive.

Remembering is woven through our prayers, and especially in our Eucharistic Prayers.  After a series of praises, they all move to the celebrant reminding both us and God of what God has done in the past.  Today, using Prayer D,  we will remind ourselves and God that we were formed in God’s own image, that God did not abandon us to the power of death.  That in God’s mercy, God came to our help.  That God sent Jesus to save us, and sent the Holy Spirit so that we might live for Jesus.

It is an ancient way of praying, and all the Abrahamic faiths follow this pattern.  Remembering how God has saved in the past, and asking God to save us now.  The whole first half of the Easter Vigil is exactly this.  To hear the stories of God’s action in history, and to remember.  Remembering is powerful stuff!  Remembering keeps hope alive, and hope keeps us alive.

“Do this in remembrance of me.”  You know that phrase well.  You hear it every time the bread and chalice are raised at these Altars.  It is not a new teaching; it is not a new concept: it is remembering.  We are reminded of what Jesus has done; we are reminded that he said on the third day he would rise again; we are reminded that he said, “This is my body,” and “this is my blood.”  We are reminded that God has saved in the past, is saving now, and will save in the future.  We are reminded that God has not let us down yet.

We do not hope because we can see the future.  We have hope because we can remember the past.  Not knowing what will happen, but remembering what God has already done.  Remembering brings hope, and hope keeps us alive.  We do not know what the future holds.  But we have hope because we remember.  And God has not let us down yet.

As those visitors said to the women at the tomb:  Remember how he told you he would rise again.  And they remembered his words, and they went and told the others.  Today, let us also remember, and go and tell the others.  There is always hope because we remember, and hope keeps us alive.  Remember what God has done for us.  And go and tell the others.
Happy Easter!

Amen.