March 27, 2005

A well known author refused to use exclamation points because he said it would be like laughing at one's own jokes. In the original Scripture texts there are no punctuation marks as we use them. In fact, the lines run together. Nonetheless, the Easter narratives palpably burst with exclamations. All is surprise: The women at the tomb, the men on the Emmaus road, the apostles in the upper room and the crowds of witnesses over the next several weeks shout "He is risen!" And so do we, for we no less than they share in the products of the Resurrection of Christ: the Church, the Sacraments, the Fellowship of the Saints and, by enormous grace, Eternal Life.

Before the Crucifixion, Jesus warned the apostles that their faith would be shaken, and indeed it was, along with the quaking of the earth itself at the moment of his death. The sky darkened, graves were opened and all nature seemed one big exclamation point. Almost as a passing phrase, we are told that after Christ rose from the dead, many of those who had died were seen alive in the streets of Jerusalem.

The world has never been the same and the only responses are either nervously to ignore so great a mystery or to proclaim it with apostolic joy. The tormented philosopher Nietzsche asked a Christian, "If you believe in a Redeemer why don't you act more redeemed?" It is a good question to ask of everyone who has been baptized. As we give thanks for all those of many races and nationalities who are being baptized in this parish during the Easter festival, it is right that we renew our own baptismal promises. Do you reject Satan? And all his evil works? And all his empty promises? They are heavy questions, but the answer is lighthearted in the noblest sense, for it responds to a question mark with an exclamation. "I do!"

The Risen Christ looks upon our "Culture of Death" as it goes through its own passion now, when the sanctity of life is challenged and the life of virtue is scorned. This is a brilliant time to profess the Christ as Saviour. It is too brilliant to accommodate any half-hearted attempt to reduce Easter to a generic spring festival. Our fellow Christians in the southern hemisphere as Autumn approaches celebrate as we in the north do in the new Spring. Seasons come and go but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This is the occasion for an exclamation point, for it is not a matter of laughing at one's own joke, it is the divine laughter of Life that has conquered Death.

Fr. George W. Rutler