SERMON: ARCHBISHOP AUDU ON EASTER VIGIL

EASTER VIGIL: Resurrection of the Lord

“The Angel spoke and he said to the women, there is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said he would”. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Amen! My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the Holy night, when our Lord Jesus Christ passed from death to life.

As a joke, a pastor was talking to a group of young people about the high cost of dying. He said “People today waste thousands of Naira on coffins and monuments’. He continued in the case of Jesus, he was so unconcerned by his death that he had to use a borrowed tomb; A teenager raised her hand up and said, “But he only needed it for three days”. The British Prime Minister David Cameron was once asked the meaning of Easter and he explains: “Easter is compassion, forgiveness, hard work, and responsibility!” Yes, that is the politician at his best; one-size-fits-all! Yet, that disturbingly reflects how today Christians lack full clarity about the core of their faith. In a recent survey, only 31% of Christians in the UK believe that Jesus physically died and rose from the dead. In the words of Bishop Robert Barron, properly understood, Easter is an earthquake, an explosion. It is the belief that Jesus of Nazareth, a first century Jew, who spoke and acted in the person of God, and was brutally murdered at the prime of his life, was alive again through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, that is hard to believe. The disciples themselves did not believe initially. And who could blame them? I would like to share this true story with you. In 1994, which is 29 years exactly this year, a man from Mararaba Gurku within the Catholic diocese of Lafia, got married to one lady fron Garaku, which is between Keffi an Akwanga. One day the lady visited her parents in Garaku after marriage. One early morning she went with other women to get water from the stream. On crossing the road, a car killed her. She was buried but the most interesting part of the story is that after one year exactly, the woman has re-appeared.

Let me say, you were among the women who went to get water that morning with this woman who got killed in your very eyes, or let us say you were among those who witnessed her funeral mass and burial. Would you accept or believe if someone tells you that this woman has come back to life, even though this is a true story? It is much easier for us now because we have the benefit of knowing how things eventually unraveled. Then, they did not. Present day society seems to offer men and women, particularly Christians many savour substitutes. In some cases it will be science and its twin sister technology that is presented as the saviours of future humanity. For others, it will be ideology independently of its colour or form. For many people, it will be democracy, the free participation of all in political government presented with the face of a universal panacea. And there are those who regard material well being as man’s true savours. These people will say if welfare is extended to every human person in whatever part of the world where he happens to be, he will truly be saved. It is true that these realities pointed out and many more must have something to do with man’s salvation. But they do not offer lasting salvation. They only offer partial forms of salvation hence people are unsatisfied by them and most often people that trusted in them are heavenly disappointed. True salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is the only man who has conquered death by rising from the dead, this is what we are celebrating to night.

Christ is risen from the dead! Our Saviour has conquered sin and death. Let all of heaven rejoice. Today is a great celebration. The sorrow of the passion gives way to joyful exuberant hymns in the church an feasting with family and friends. Yet, when this day comes to a close, we may find ourselves asking, what does the resurrection of Christ mean for me today? How can this event affect my life in a tangible way?”The resurrection of Jesus Christ is very important for us his followers in many ways. First of all it gives us an assurance: Before his death, Jesus had been making intolerable statements about his resurrection. For instance, I am the life and the resurrection. He who believes in me will never die. He told the people in the temple that destroys this temple and in three days, I will build it up. In john 10:10, he says I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full. While in Galilee he told his followers that “The son of man will be handed over into the power of sinful men and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.” If Jesus had not risen, all these statements of his would have been in vain. He is not here he has risen. It means that Jesus Christ has really fulfilled those words of his by rising from the dead. There is probably no fact in history which is so fully proven and corroborated as the fact that Jesus of Nazareth who was nailed, to the cross and died and was buried did rise again. When Jesus laid dead his friends, enemies alike were among those who witness it and his burial too but God raised him up.

The resurrection of Jesus is guarantee to every one of us who believes in him that we too shall rise like him. The Apostle Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians makes the whole argument for the resurrection of the body to rest upon this question. Did Christ rise from the dead? If he did rise then, all his people must rise with him. If we accept the resurrection of Jesus, it means that we have settled the problem of our resurrection. If we conformed to his image, we must rise too. The death and resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith, the reality on which our hope is built. By Dying Jesus has destroyed our death, and by rising Jesus has restored our life.” This is the simple yet profound meaning of today’s celebration. Our Old life of sin has been crucified with Christ. Deep-rooted sinful tendencies need no longer have power over us. We have been given a new life “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). With Paul, each of us can proclaim: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).

Jesus’ resurrection inaugurates a new creation. We are made new. God makes us his sons and daughters. He raises us up to share in the joy and peace of the Blessed Trinity here on earth and forever with him in heaven. Christ is in us and wants to lift our eyes from this present world to our eternal destiny “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). Heaven is our destination. The same powers of God that raised Jesus from the dead lives within us. You are a beloved child of God and an heir to kingdom. What powers can possible hold you back from receiving your inheritance today? I would like you to pray this prayer with me father; thank you for this blessed day! I surrender myself totally to you. I want to experience the new life purchased for me by the blood of your Son. Amen.

In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit: Amen Happy Easter to you all!

+Ab Matthew AUDU Jos