Easter Sunday – Year C
April 20, 2025 – 10:30 AM
Saint Cecilia Catholic Community
Rev. David Justin Lynch
Acts 10:34A;37-43 | Psalm 118:1-2;16-17; 22-23
I Corinthians 5:6B-8 | John 20:1-9
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
Much of American culture is based on winning and losing. Some people win, others lose. Not only do we experience this in sporting events, but in the musical world as well, where singers compete against other singers for prizes and jobs. And, of course, in the political system, some candidates win and others lose. While win-win is usually a more effective tool for problem-solving, there will still be areas of life where there have to be winners and losers.
Nowhere is this more true than on Easter Sunday.
Good won.
Evil lost.
Life won.
Death lost.
Jesus won.
Satan Lost
The Resurrection of Jesus celebrates His victory over Sin. Just as winners of a sporting event or vocal competition give thanks for victory, on Easter Sunday, we give thanks to God for the Easter Victory of Jesus over Sin. Easter is the feast of the Victory of the Kingdom of God, where sin and death reign no more.
The resurrection of Jesus ushers in a new era of hope and transformation. Whether or not we accept the physical historicity of the Resurrection, it declares profound implications for our present and future. The Resurrection inaugurated God’s new creation. The Resurrection manifested a sign that God’s kingdom had broken into our world.
During Lent, we’ve prepared for Easter by examining ourselves and realizing our own imperfections. I hope that for you, Lent was more a period of self-discovery and spiritual growth that will help you better appreciate the significance of the resurrection of Jesus.
During Lent, we’ve heard all about sin. Saint Paul describes sin as not merely a collection of wrongful acts but a power that enslaves humanity. In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul explains that through baptism, we are united with Christ in His death and resurrection. This union signifies that the resurrection has broken sin’s dominion over us.
The resurrection of Jesus reconciled humanity to God by conquering sin. Sin divides. Reconciliation unites. The tale of the sin of Adam and Eve was one of concealment, blame, estrangement, and exile. By contrast, the work of Jesus is to gather, heal, restore, and reunite.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work when love triumphs over bitterness, when enemies forgive, and when communities overcome division. Reconciliation is the new life we experience in the resurrection of Jesus. As Saint Paul speaks to us in Second Corinthians,
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”
Biblical scholar N. T. Wright tells us that wherever sins are forgiven, wherever human lives are transformed by love and grace, and wherever ancient enemies become friends, we see signs that Jesus’ death and resurrection really were victorious over sin and death.
Sin and death are inextricably related. They cannot be disentangled from one another. The sin of Adam and Eve introduced death into creation. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life, they did not die immediately. Their prior relationship with God died, and they went into hiding. Adam blamed Eve for the situation, which caused their relationship with each other to die. Their relationship with the earth also died as they were condemned to toil to survive.
Death is not just biological. It is a spiritual, relational, and cosmic disorder. Death in the Bible is not simply a physical event but a relational and theological reality. It is the sign and symptom of sin’s power to corrupt the world God made as good. Sin breaks life. Sin separates life from the God of life. Death is the result of that separation — not just physically but also spiritually, socially, and politically.
Death is the full-grown result of sin. And do you recall who in the story of Adam and Eve brought sin and death into the world? It was the Devil in the form of a snake in the garden. The Devil is the power of anti-creation. The Devil is the force that wishes to drag God’s good world back into chaos and darkness. Jesus defeats the Devil by exposing the Devil’s lies, breaking the power of sin, and overcoming death itself.
The resurrection of Jesus is not just proof of life after death. It is proof that the power of sin, which leads to death, has been broken. As Saint Paul says, and as we sang this morning, “Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him.”
The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the new creation, where sin and death no longer hold sway. It is about the launching of God’s project to restore creation and reconcile all things. Jesus defeats sin and death by rising from the dead.
Reconciliation and forgiveness are visible signs of the defeat of sin and death. Reconciliation is the power of the resurrection made visible. This is why, for the early Christians, reconciliation — not just private spirituality — was the evidence that Jesus really was risen.
Look at the reconciliation of Jewish and Gentile Christians at the first church council in the Book of Acts.
Look at how, throughout the New Testament, Christians call each other brother and sister over one hundred thirty times.
Look at how Saint Paul proclaims in Galatians that men and women, slave and free, are all one in Christ Jesus.
Other examples abound throughout scripture. For example, in the story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis, when the brothers of Joseph sold him into slavery and destroyed his life, he could have chosen revenge, but instead, Joseph says: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” This is reconciliation by the undoing of the death of the relationship between Joseph and his brothers.
Another example is Jacob and Esau. There, Jacob deceived Esau, which made Esau want to kill Jacob. But Esau, years later, ran towards Jacob, and embraced and forgave Jacob. And the clearest example of all in scripture is the prodigal son pericope, where one of two sons leaves his father, squanders his share of the family wealth, returns home, and is reunited with his father in full sonship. Isn’t that an example of how all estrangements should be resolved?
In contemporary life, we have the example of what happened when apartheid ended in South Africa and revenge seemed inevitable. But Archbishop Desmond Tutu — deeply influenced by the gospel and the Resurrection — led a commission not of revenge but of truth-telling and forgiveness. Tutu called it “resurrection politics.” This is resurrection power made visible in human history.
The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the Kingdom’s renewal of the whole world. The task of the church is to implement the Easter victory of Jesus in every sphere of life of its life to be a shining example to the world around it. Unfortunately, the church has not often met this challenge as we see Christians deliberately separating themselves from one another by abominations like closed communion, not recognizing the validity of one another’s sacraments, and the despicable triumphalism of denominations declaring themselves “the one true church” based on defective scriptural exegesis. Easter Sunday should be an opportunity for the church to conquer those kinds of sins through some great act of reconciliation.
The resurrection declares that reconciliation is possible. The same power that rolled the stone away can roll away bitterness, the same power that raised Jesus, can raise dead relationships. This is the ministry of reconciliation. This is what Easter looks like in real life. Because every act of reconciliation, every act of bridge-building is a little resurrection. Your life can be filled with resurrections, if you let it happen.
Resurrection is the final word of God.
Not sin.
Not death.
But life forever.
Amen.