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I told
you I would not leave you and that I would be back to lift you up. Why
didn't you believe me...? But it doesn't matter any more. Now you know
that I love you and how much I love you. Now you know that I would do
anything to save you. |
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| Easter
Sunday Homily |
| Eagle
That Could Not Fly |
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Jesus - whom his friends, his family,
and indeed all of Jerusalem thought dead, was raised to life. Not only
was he raised to life - but he appeared to people, he presented himself
to Peter who denied him; to Thomas who doubted him; to Mary who wept for
him. The first Easter was an incredible day, one that started with
disbelief, with fear and trembling and bewilderment beside the empty
tomb, and ended with astonishment, excitement and thanksgiving. |
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What strikes me about the resurrection
day is that despite of all the disciples had seen Jesus do, from healing
the sick to calming the storms, and despite of all the disciples had
heard Jesus say about how he would be killed and on the third day be
raised, not one of them expected - after the cross was raised - to ever
see Jesus again. |
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What is striking about the first
Easter day is that not one of his followers was there watching the tomb,
not one of his disciples stayed by the grave to see if he would rise as
he had said he would. When Jesus died their hopes died, their
convictions died, indeed their faith died. |
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No one expected the resurrection.
Despite what they had seen, despite what they had heard, despite what
they had experienced, no one believed that it would happen. But thanks
God -- it did happen! |
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Not only did God make it happen, God
went on and raised up the faith of the disciples, he brought to life
again their dead convictions and restored their hopes. It is because of
the resurrection that we celebrate this victory today. |
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The resurrection is the most important
thing that we believe in as Christians. The resurrection is the center
of our faith, it is the foundation of our Christian experience, and it
is the goal towards which our lives move. The resurrection is of first
importance to us, not because it is a nice ending to the story of Jesus,
but because it is the beginning of our story, a story in which our faith
can triumph over death just as did the faith of Jesus. |
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I would like to tell you a story now. |
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Once upon a time a man found the egg
of an eagle. It had been abandoned for some reason by its mother, but as
it was still warm the man took it and put it in the nest of one of his
backyard chickens along with the other eggs that were there being
brooded upon. After a period of time the eaglet was hatched, and along
with the other chicks from his nest began to go about the backyard doing
what the other chicks did. He scratched the earth for worms and insects.
He looked for the corn that the man would throw into the yard. He
clucked and cackled as best as he could, and as he grew, he would, like
the other chickens, thrash his wings and fly a few feet in the air. |
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Years passed in this way and the eagle
grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the
cloudless sky. It glided majestically among the powerful wind currents,
soaring and swooping, scarcely beating its long golden wings. The old
eagle looked at it in awe and asked: "What is
that? That is an eagle, the king of the birds, said one of his neighbors.
He belongs to the sky and to the high places. We belong to the earth, we
are chickens." The old eagle did not know who he really was.
And so it was -- he lived and died like a chicken, for that is what he
believed he was. |
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But we know who we are. In God's eyes
we are all eagles. Sometimes we believe we are something else, we are
chickens. Do you want to be like this eagle that turned chicken. I hope
not. |
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We are eagles and we were born to fly. |
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With Jesus' resurrection we were given
power to heal and to help others. With Jesus' resurrection we were given
power to conquer our own fear and despair, we were given power to defeat
the fear and despair that afflicts others. |
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Believing that Jesus resurrected let
us live our lives like eagles flying high and above and looking at
everything in a new way. |
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Society of
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