Some Easter Thoughts, 2002

Father Owen's Homilies

Easter Message Sunday, March 31, 2002

Some Easter Thoughts: There is hope now because the Light of Christ has driven away even the shadows of death.

In the Creed that we recite as a worshiping community each Sunday and major celebration there is the sentence, “he descended into hell.” We have taken that sentence to mean that after his death, Jesus went to a place where the souls of just people were waiting until the resurrected Messiah could open the gates of heaven. Once those gates were open then they could go to be forever with God.

Recently I was reading an author who gives that sentence a new and appealing twist. He gave two stories to make his point. I will share one with you.

Many of us have seen the picture where Jesus is shown knocking on the door of a person who is in fear and panic. There is no knob on the door. The point is that we have to open the door from the inside to let Jesus in to bring healing and peace. The new twist, as seen by this author, is that Jesus can descend into the “hells” of our lives even when we are too stubborn to open the door or when we have thrown away key.

This, I feel, is the message of Easter: there is hope now because the Light of Christ has driven away even the shadows of death. The Light of Christ wants to bring the New Easter Life into our own. Jesus will do that even when we are so stubborn that we will not turn the knob on our side. Christ Jesus will prevail in our lifetimes at that point when all our resources are gone and there is no more fight left in us. Jesus wants to descend into our own private hells of despair, addiction, resentment, feeble old age and rejection to bring us Light and healing. The Light is Life because with Easter and the Resurrection, the final power of Death itself is dead. Jesus descended into the hell of death. He arose to give you and me the gift of Light and Life forever. Of all the blessings a Loving God has given us, God put Rest and Hope in the hands of Jesus. Life is so much easier when we turn the knob. But whether or not we turn it, Jesus descended into hell once. He can do it again.