Easter Day

     The return of spring, which is marked by trees breaking forth
into flower and roses blooming in the courtyard, tells us of the tremendous regenerative power in nature. Throughout the ages mankind has been watching this event occur each year and asking the question, "Is it possible that somehow, some way, human nature also could be regenerated?"
     All the great religions of the past have tried to deal with this overwhelming concern. The insights of the Hebrews contained in the Old Testament provide the most profound analysis of this question.
     Not only is the world of human nature finite and, therefore, temporal. A deeper and more powerful problem exists. This is brought out in the very beginning of the Book of Genesis. In the symbolic story of Adam and Eve we are told that all of us have within us a most grievous fault which prevents new life from springing forth in us. This fault is a propensity towards rebellion against God. Death is the result of the cutting off of the human soul from the life of God. The specter of death hangs over the whole history of mankind, along with mankind's record of disobedience. Together the two are intertwined - sin and death, death and sin.
     Billy Sunday, a prominent Christian evangelist at the beginning of the last century who preached to literally millions of people around our country, once said, "The trouble with many men is that they have just enough religion to make them miserable." I am sure most of us understand that. Many of us have memories of being required to go to church when we were young. We had to memorize long scripture passages and learn to say prayers. We were exposed to just a little bit of religion. We know people who are active in the churches who are hypocrites, who are disagreeable, and who are grumpy. The outward trappings of religion, which we experience in a casual way, can indeed make us miserable.
     If we look deeper, however, if we begin to search beneath the outward elements of religion and seek for the very soul and heart of our Christian faith, we find the answer right here in the Resurrection of our Lord. As St. Paul said, "If Christ did not rise from the dead then we are of all men most miserable." The resurrected Christ through His Holy Spirit comes into our souls to regenerate us from spiritual death.
     We see this truth illustrated for us in the story of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Peter in the four gospels. We find the regenerative power of the Resurrection brought out in their lives in the remarkable historical account of that day, some two thousand years ago, when Jesus rose from the dead. Two individuals, who were closely associated with Him, illustrate the tragic fault of sin in the human soul and the opportunity for spiritual regeneration that all of us, in one way or another, share.
     One is a woman named Mary Magdalene. She came to Jesus seeking only the opportunity to express her devotion without expecting anything in return. Mary Magdalene was derided and scorned by the Pharisees and other religious people as one who was an outcast, who had denied the standards of society and had become a woman of the streets. She had no virtue whatsoever. We do not know what the tragic circumstances were that caused her to become a prostitute. For all intents and purposes she was spiritually dead. Perhaps only her desire to love kept her alive, and this love led her to Jesus.
     Instead of rejecting her and condemning her, Jesus forgave her. When Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more," He brought her soul back to life. He restored her lost self-esteem and gave her a new purpose in living.
     Then there was Peter, who had been among the first of the disciples. He was their leader and an outspoken member of the band of twelve. He was a boisterous fisherman who, in the final days when he saw the powers of evil closing in on Jesus, boasted that no matter what happened, no matter how dangerous things became, he would stand by Jesus and be faithful.
     When Jesus was arrested and taken before the judgment seat, Peter three times denied that he had ever known Him. His fear of death, his fear of humiliation, and his fear of loss turned him from an outwardly brave, strong person into a coward. Peter broke down and wept because he knew that he had died within. Mary Magdalene had lost her virtue; Peter had lost his courage.
     In a marvelous way, the very first people that Jesus was thinking of in the gospel account we have of His Resurrection were these two, Mary the fallen woman and Peter the coward. When the faithful women arrived early in the morning on the first day of the week to anoint His body in the tomb for a decent burial, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Mary, weeping, saw someone standing nearby. She thought it was the gardener. She spoke to him. It was Jesus, and He said, "Mary." He called her name and she recognized the Risen Lord.
     At the sea of Tiberias the risen Christ showed Himself to seven of the disciples. Three times on the seashore Jesus said to Peter "Feed my sheep." At that moment Peter's soul came back to life.
     We have presented to us here the regeneration of the human spirit in its two most sensitive areas, with the return of a lost virtue and the return of a lost courage. This is what the Christian faith gives to us. In one form or another, in one way or another, we all turn away from God. We all deny what is best in us. We lose our purity and we lose our self respect. We lose our will to live. Down through the ages the men and women who have heard the story of the risen Christ and have listened and believed have found it to be a miraculous way for their virtue and their courage to return.
     The prophet Isaiah wrote, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The very human aspects of the Christian religion pale into insignificance in the light of the glorious gospel of spiritual regeneration. If our dead souls can become alive again, then certainly our bodies can do the same.
     Therefore, we should not try to rummage around in the past and speculate in regard to the details of all of this. The angel said to Mary, "Why seek you the living among the dead. He is not here. He has risen."
     The risen Christ is here with us today. He is here in His spiritual presence calling us out of a life of despair, and a life of fear. He is able to change us into new, shining, wonderful spirits for whom the gates of death are nothing more than a passageway into life eternal. He did rise from the dead and He can regenerate you. He gives new life to your spirit and to your heart. He brings new life to all those whose souls are dead from sin and from fear. This truth is not just a story out of the past. This is a living, present power that you can live by every day. The true joy of the Christian faith comes to you; a joy that will not end
     Today as we glorify God for this great event, we do so with joy. We sing His praises. We acknowledge that the greatest gift of all has been given to us. Through His resurrection Jesus gives to us the spiritual medicine to cure sin, and the spiritual medicine to overcome death. Let us then live by faith in Him and try in every way to follow His commands.
     As Jesus was about to leave His disciples and ascend back to His heavenly throne the scriptures tell us:
     And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, 'all power
     is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore,
      and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the
      Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching
     them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
     you and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of
     the world.
     With this promise we live with the power to triumph over sin, and to conquer death. Jesus was thinking of Mary Magdalene when He said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Jesus was speaking to Peter when He said, "Upon this rock I shall build my Church."
     We look forward to that great and wonderful time when all the faithful will be gathered together, the living and the dead, who now are alive in the Lord. That will be the greatest, the most wonderful, and the most glorious time beyond time that anyone can ever imagine. Jesus said to His disciples, as He says to us today, "I will see you again and your joy no man taketh from you."