The End of Easter
The End.
Last time I preached I took way too long to get to the end. I’m sorry about that. I was super excited about what I learned from my experience being the kinda-ok shepherd. Please forgive me. I’ll make it up to you by being particularly brief the next few times I get to preach, so we average out to the 7 or 8 minutes that Pope Francis and our Bishop have asked us to target.
So. The End.
No, not really. Not the end. I’m not done quite yet.
Today is the end of Easter. It marks the end of Christ’s mission on earth. Our Lord’s mission is not completed by his birth, life, passion, death, resurrection. Yes, he says that “it is finished” on the cross, and there are no more enemies to defeat, but his mission is not accomplished until he delivers on his promise to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is not until he sends that spirit that we are empowered to be the Body of Christ and continue his work to bring salvation to all times and places.
Today’s readings begin with the end in mind, which is always good advice for important things. We don’t make a journey without thinking about the end of the journey, do we? We don’t usually bounce from town to town and see where we wind up. We begin with the destination in mind.
Today, we begin at the end. All the action is in our first reading, from the book of Act. We see the fulfillment of the promise proclaimed, then have a little reminder of the promise itself proclaimed in the Gospel.
As I thought on “the end”, I realized that “the end” doesn’t just mean “when we stop” – it means “where we’re going” and “why.”
We hear the phrase “the means to an end” sometimes – what we do is the means, and what we are striving to accomplish is the end.
So here we are, at Pentecost, which is the end of Easter. Yes, it is the end of the season, but it is also what Jesus was accomplishing. Remember, he said earlier in John, “It is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you… when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
As I look back, I think about what is the end of Lent and Easter for us? What is the goal or intention? What is God’s intention for us? What is God trying to accomplish in us?
The end of Lent and Easter is for us to be changed and renewed, as if we too are raised from the dead.
Peter, who ran away and who denied Christ three times is changed, renewed, and converted. Peter stands up and preaches with power, and about three thousand people were baptized that day.
But many others were not converted. They did not change. They did not repent. We continue to hear that some of the religious leaders of the time continued to plot against the work of Christ in progress by the Church, the Body of Christ.
If we look back, and we are the same, then we have not adequately participated in accomplishing the end of Easter.
The good news is that every Sunday is a little Easter. Every confession is a fresh start, a fresh opportunity to consider our end, and how we’re getting along. Every sacrament we receive is a fresh opportunity to be reborn in the power of the Spirit.
