Homily For Easter Sunday
Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia, Alleluia.
Today, we celebrate the reality, the foundational truth of Jesus Christ’s conquest over sin and death. Last week, we re-read all the Passion narratives and heard of the pain and suffering, the love of Jesus for us sinners in giving his life for mankind’s sin. Now, we celebrate his victory and the joy of our inclusion in that victory. Jesus suffered our death, Jesus took our judgment upon him and rather than giving us what we justly deserved, eternal separation from God, through the miracle of His resurrection, He calls us into His family, adopts us into His people where hope, joy and peace are to be found.
That is why baptism is so appropriate to the celebration of Easter.
For centuries, apart from emergencies, Baptism was only administered on Easter. Christ’s rising from the dead points to the sacrament of Holy Baptism. St. Paul says as much in Romans 6 where he says, 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life
So this morning, all six of the Montano girls were united to Christ through baptism - sharing in that common linkage that is so very ancient. Celebrating truly the joy of Christ’s resurrection and His love for people.
Many have noted that the recorded baptisms in the book of Acts and in many of the accounts in the Early Church were adults.
It is true that many of the converts early on were Gentiles who were being evangelized as adults and called out of paganism to believe. I grew up in a tradition that extrapolated from these historical facts that baptism should only be administered to those who could consent, who could make assent to the historical claims of Christ’s Lordship.
There should be adult conversions, particularly if the Church is doing her job of telling people of the power of Christ’s resurrection. What is missed often in this discussion is the covenantal elements of baptism - it is not just an individual who is being engrafted into Christ. Believing faith has consequences for his whole household, his family. You will recall St. Peter in Acts saying of the promise of God, “This promise belongs to you and your children, and all who are afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.” The believer who came to faith as an adult would normally have a family with children, and what is to be done for them?
We have to remember the Jewish roots of our faith and the presuppositions that came with it. Circumcision, for males, under the Old Covenant, was an absolute necessity; it must be done in order for the child to be received into Israel.
We can understand this connection of circumcision and baptism by considering how God revealed the nature of the new covenant as it applied to ceremonial laws such as abstaining from certain foods and not associating with Gentiles. It was through a special vision from God and thus a divine confirmation that God revealed the nature of the new covenant brought through Christ’s resurrection. As example we have the vision given to St. Peter about eating unclean meat and the three-fold vision from God about meat and associating with the Gentiles who were coming to faith.
Peter received that vision, in which he was vexed about eating unclean meat but was told through imagery not to call unclean what God had blessed and made clean. Afterwards, he went immediately to the house of the Gentile Cornelius where he baptized him and his family.
If God had to use a vision to convey the changes of the ceremonial law, why didn’t he inform the Apostles of his changes related to the mark of the covenant. In other words, if baptism, the mark of the new covenant, was only to be applied to adults, why didn’t God declare a change of course - he did so in regards to the ceremonial law, why not something that is so fundamental to being a part of God’s covenant as circumcision Keep in mind that all boys who weren’t circumcised were cut off from God’s people - unable to participate in Israel’s religious life.
Therefore, the church historically has viewed baptism as analogous to circumcision - only with broader application. The New Covenant is more comprehensive than the old for it includes those who are not physically Abraham’s descendants but all the Gentile nations who would come to God. Also, the mark of the new covenant was not reserved only for males - male and female alike were to be brought to baptism.
Under the old covenant, everyone in the family participated in eating the Passover. This is the reason all baptized Christians, regardless of age, are invited to partake of the Holy Communion.
As we think about what Christ’s resurrection has done for us, let us think about how baptizing a child who may not be self-aware of what is going on communicates Christ’s work.
In circumcision, the baby boy was not aware of what promises were being made on his account.
He was not aware that he was now part of God’s people with all the blessings and burdens of a covenant that he did not choose. He received God’s blessing, he received a new status before God through the covenant. A child brought to baptism is the recipient of God’s love by including them in the Church where salvation is to be found.
We receive grace and mercy because of the resurrection; we receive God’s grace and mercy through baptism. Yet, baptism is just the beginning.
Just as an adult who knowingly and willingly declares faith in Christ must live a renewed life of obedience which baptism begins, we call children to walk in the baptism of their infancy. Israel’s deliverance through the Baptism of the Red Sea was just the beginning of its journey with the God who had redeemed it from Pharoah’s bondage.
It was after passing through the Red Sea, after God’s deliverance out of Egypt that Israel would learn what it meant to be God’s people. They were truly a redeemed people out of Egypt but their redemption meant that they had a new master - the true Lord of heaven and earth instead of Pharaoh and the false gods of Egypt. They were redeemed people, baptized people, in one sense, before they received the instruction on how to live as God’s people through the Law at Mount Sinai. The Montano girls, like all of us, must learn what it means to be God’s redeemed people. They will learn that in the Church, as part of the community of faith, already included among God’s people. As they do so, they must embrace, personally, individually, faith and repentance. One must have a lively faith in Jesus Christ our Lord - one must place their trust in his sacrifice for sin on Good Friday and the power of his resurrection on Easter to be received by God in the day of judgment. Baptism doesn’t change the requirement for a lively faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Baptism doesn’t remove the need for one to repent. To make a decision of one’s will to turn away from acts and attitudes that are contrary to God’s will and turn toward the Lord in complete obedience to Him. But Baptism does mark each of these girls with the reality that they are included among God’s people, who will nurture them in faith. It is the beginning of the journey. Each and every one of the newly baptized Montano girls, just as each of us, in fact, must believe the Gospel, day by day. They and we must take the Good news to be our own. Turning to the God who loved us before we ever knew to love Him. That is why at Baptism we are called to renew - the pledge of our own baptisms. That is why we renewed our vows earlier in the service. So that we might make it an ongoing practice of laying hold of God’s promises to us.
So this morning, this Easter morning, we truly celebrate the joy - the Alleluias of Easter. We praise God for the redemption through Christ’s blood that forgives our sins. We exult, we revel in Christ’s resurrection which brings hope and peace, and promises new life for those united to Him.
We joyfully celebrate what Christ has accomplished, his redemption for his people. The question for all of us, the newly baptized and those who have lived decades, perhaps a half a century or more beyond the moment we entered the waters of baptism, are our lives matching this profession of death to sin and new life in Christ? Indeed, are our baptized lives marked by the Holy Spirit’s work of faith and repentance? Perhaps you have been baptized and never truly believed. Maybe you have never been baptized at all. Christ bids us to come and receive His resurrection power for new life. New obedience, new joy, new hope, perhaps new faith and repentance, a new life of obedience to Him.
In the minutes before Holy Communion, consider what Christ’s resurrection means for you. Perhaps trust for the first time, and if you have not been united to Christ in baptism, to seek that obedience, embracing the life of spirit-empowered repentance moment by moment. Let nothing keep you from the joy and transformation of His resurrection. Beloved, Christ is Risen. The Lord is risen Indeed. Alleluia, Alleluia,
