If
you were here about ten minutes before we began this
most
holy night, I talked about the history of this particular liturgy
dating back,
at least the document, the oldest document we have, to the year 210 BC,
some
eighteen centuries ago. But really, to
understand this liturgy, one has to understand what happened before
Christ,
from the time of creation through the time of Christ, until
today.
That's why we have that dramatic reading of
many of the Hebrew Scriptures. There are
seven readings that are dictated by the Church for tonight, four of
which we
are required to read. What we have done
is blended those four and a few of the others into one continuous
narrative, to
see the history of the relationship of God with us, his people.
To
understand that relationship, one has to understand this
whole notion of covenant. We hear that
word occasionally. When you buy a house,
there are covenants. You are not allowed
to do this. You are not allowed to do
that. We understand covenants as being
similar to a contract or a deal. That's
fairly
accurate. However, throughout God's
relationship with his people, he has made a series of covenants with
men. He had a covenant with Adam and Eve,
didn't
he? He created them and gave them
everything they needed and he said, "Just do not eat of this
tree.
That is your part of the covenant. It's the only thing I ask you
to do and I'll
do everything else." Of course, we know
what happened. Nevertheless, I love that
in the The
Exultet as
Renee sang so well, "Oh happy fault of Adam
Because of Adam's
sin we have a redeemer,
Jesus Christ."
Man
broke that first covenant and he broke many after
that. God made a covenant with
Noah. He had
destroyed the earth
with water because of its wickedness. After, he promised
never again
to destroy the earth by water.Subsequently,
we have the rainbow as a sign of that deal.
Of course, man became wicked after that as well.
God
made a covenant with Abraham, after he tested Abraham's
faith. Part of our dramatic reading
tonight reminded us of what happened there.
God said to Abraham, "Take your son Isaac, your only son whom
you love
and slaughter him." In fact, as Gerard
was reading those words, he had difficulty, I think.
Did you hear that in his voice? It
is a terrible, sad thought. Frankly,
without our knowledge of what
happened with Jesus Christ, that story in the Old Testament, in Genesis
about
Abraham, is rather cruel, isn't it? To
test his faith, God says, "Abraham, take your son, your only son, your
beloved
whom you love and sacrifice him for love of me." Of
course, Abraham wasn't required to do
that.
However,
God the Father did just that, didn't he? To
prove his love for us, he sacrificed his
only son, his beloved. He made a
covenant with Abraham that he would make him the father of many
nations, to father
as many people as there are stars in the sky.
Of course, the people broke that covenant. They
sold off one of their brothers who ended
up in slavery in Egypt
and then the very brother they sold off, Joseph, saved them.
Later,
they were in a mess again and so God made a covenant
with Moses. He said, "Moses lead my
people out, and I'll take care of them."
And Moses tried to get out of it.
He said, "I don't speak well."
Some people think he stuttered.
Imagine, if you can, the great Moses.
We think of Charlton Heston. "Moses, take my people out."
"Bbbbbut
where?" Nevertheless,
Moses did lead the people out, but he himself was not sufficiently
faithful to
enter the Promised Land. He died before
he could enter and cross the Jordan. Joshua led the people into the
Promised Land. Of course, the deal was with Moses, "I'll
give you a land flowing with milk and
honey. You'll have everything you'll
need. You'll harvest where others have
planted. You'll drink their wine. I'll provide for you but
do not worship false
gods." They, of course, broke the
covenant. They got comfortable and
started to say, "Well, we don't want to offend anyone."
Subsequently,
they worshiped the gods of Canaan.
God
made a covenant with David. He
said, "David, I will make of you a great
people and one of your descendants will be the Great King." Jesus
was born of the line of David.
Well,
we could go on, but the point is, God loved us from
that first day of creation. All that is
created was created for us. He loved the
human person. He created us-man and
woman, He created us. He doesn't ask
much from us but we didn't deliver on the little that we were
asked.
We failed again, and again, and again. Finally, of course, in the
fullness of time,
He
sent his own son to become one of us. That
was one man that the Father made a covenant with that would be kept,
His son
Jesus Christ.
We
mention these things; I mentioned them in a homily a week
ago. However, tonight is the night that
we celebrate the covenant. We, all of
us, especially those who are to be baptized, you enter into this
covenant
tonight, this night. You say yes to the
deal by being baptized in Christ Jesus.
Now your part of the covenant is just to stay close to Jesus. He
will do the rest. We
have already proven we are not
capable. If you do not know that about
yourself, you are very young. We are
weak, aren't we? But He is strong, isn't
He? Therefore, in baptism, after you are
baptized, St. Leo wrote in the fourth century, "When the Father looks
at you,
he sees Christ, whom He loves." His
image for Christ is the image of God's love.
Our
job is just to stay close to Christ.
One
day, when we go before the judgment seat
of the Lord, get close to Christ and say, "I'm with Him," and you will
be
okay.
I
mentioned also a week ago and what we will do tonight
comes to fulfillment in the same way that the Jews had a way of sealing
the
deal. They didn't sign the covenant as
we would. They celebrated it by a
special ritual, which was a sacrificial ritual.
They would take a sacrificial animal, preferably a one-year-old
unblemished lamb, slaughter it on the altar, take its blood, and
sprinkle it on
the people and the altar. The altar
represents God. The priest would do
that. That was when the covenant was
ratified, when it was signed. Of course,
that is what we are doing tonight, except the sacrificial victim is
Jesus
Christ the Lamb of God. He sacrifices,
seals the covenant and you will not be sprinkled with his blood but you
will
drink it. You will eat his body. You will become
Christ.
You
will ingest the living God.
Tonight
is the night when that happened, when we enter into
the mystery of God's love. That is why
this date changes from year to year, unlike
Christmas, that is always December 25th. We
celebrate Easter at a different time each year because it coincides
with the Passover,
which is scheduled according to the moon.
It is the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.
When you leave tonight, look up and you will
see it. Our Jewish friends celebrate the
Passover this week. They enter into the
mystery when they were delivered from slavery to freedom, death to
life,
darkness to light, despair to hope. We
celebrate the fullness of the Passover with the Son of God.
The
earth was silent today because Christ died.
The
Son of God truly did die. The man, Jesus
Christ died. He descended to hell and now
during this
night, during this hour, he rises again.
I want to conclude by reading a portion of a letter which was a
homily
written by an unknown author, probably in the late first, early second
century. It talks about where Jesus has
been today.
He has gone to search for
our first parent, as for a lost sheep.Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and the
shadow of
death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he
who is
both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the
cross, the
weapon that had won him the victory.At
the sight of him, Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast
in
terror and cried out and (Jesus) took him by the hand and raised him
up,
saying, "Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and (I) Christ will
give you
light. I am your God, who for your
sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants
I now
by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth,
all who
are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping, to arise. I
order you,
O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in
Hell. Rise
from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.Rise
up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image.
Rise, let
us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we
form only
one person and we cannot be separated. Rise, let us
leave this place.The enemy led you out of
the earthly
paradise.I will not restore you to that
paradise but will enthrone you in Heaven...I appointed cherubim (angels) to guard you as slaves are
guarded, but
now I make them worship you as God. The
banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling place is prepared, the treasure
houses
of all good things lie open.The Kingdom of Heaven
has been prepared for you from all eternity."
Those
words are spoken to you today.
You are home now, safe with the Risen Lord.