Bartholomew, COME OUT!!!!!

This post was written on Wednesday morning, June 24th but I am only able to get to an internet connection to post it on Thursday evening, June 25.

"As morning breaks, I look to you, O God, to be my strength this day. Alleluia!"

-----antiphon from Psalm 63, Morning Prayer 1

I have visited the graves of a lot of famous people. I made a long list recently for one of those silly Facebook questionnaires and even surprised myself that over the years, I have managed to visit a lot of graves and tombs. I'm not macabre and I don't necessarily seek out the graves of famous people - although I have to admit that I have done that, too - there is almost always a thematic element to my visiting a grave. If you look back at this series of blogs, you will find that I have visited a LOT of graves, tombs, and cemeteries in the three short weeks I have been away. I love to tell the story of the trip that took me to the graves of Martin Luther King and Elvis in consecutive days. I have have attended parties and picnics in graveyards - and really none of this born out of any fascination with either celebrity or death. I visited another grave today.

It is unlike the others in one very important respect. When I have visited the graves of other famous people, I have been there in real faith that the mortal remains of the person whose name is on the stone or the marker is really IN THE GRAVE. If you read back on my blog post about the Scavi tour at the Vatican, the excitement that you read in that blog builds as I become more and more convinced of the likelihood that the bones of St. Peter are actually in the tomb. But last night and this morning I visited the most important grave I have ever visited, indeed, the most important tomb on the face of the planet. The experience is different because I visited this tomb in absolute faith that the remains of it's one-time occupant ARE NOT there. I speak, of course, of the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.

An important excuses: Over the course of a couple of weeks in Jerusalem, I
have read extensively about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I have been
convinced by the preponderance of evidence that the spot marked out by St.
Helena and the scholars employed by the Emperor Constantine as the burial place
of Jesus, is, in fact, the burial place of Jesus. I have looked at
counter-claims, especially those of the so-called "Garden Tomb" (which is
literally in the back yard of the house I am living in) and realize that history
and scholarship simply does not support the claims of protestant "scholars"
driven largely by their own exclusion from ministry at the actual tomb. The
Church of the Holy Sepulcher is maintained by the ancient Churches for whom
history and tradition bear incredible weight. Protestantism, which generally
rejects the importance of tradition as a theological principle, feels free to
make wild claims with reference to history. Such seems to be the case with those
who would argue that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not built over the
actual tomb of Jesus or that it is unimportant because Jesus is not there. But
we are a sacramental people and strong historical evidence (including a great
deal of physically present evidence today) helps the faithful to be able to
experience the grace of seeing the empty tomb and witnessing (for 2000 years) to
the reality of the resurrection of Jesus.

I believe that last night I spent the night within sight of the tomb of Jesus. And this morning, my classmates and I crawled into the tomb and celebrated Jesus' remarkable gift of life, the Eucharist (John 6:54 - "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day..."). The other tombs I have visited are reminders of the fragility and precariousness of life. They are reminders of death. They are in cemeteries which, so often, are places of sadness. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built over a burial place outside the ancient city of Rome - on old quarry that had been converted into a burial ground. Some of the 1st Century tombs are even still visible today. But because of the event I celebrated in one of those tombs this morning, this is no longer a place of death, stench, decay, or sadness. The emptiness of that tomb, attested to by an angel on that Sunday morning nearly 2000 years ago, attested to by the women who saw that the tomb was empty, attested to by the apostles Peter and John, attested to by 2000 years of witness - the emptiness of that tomb has turned this place of death into the ultimate symbol of life. It was that life that compelled me to spend the night locked into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher keeping vigil for my celebration this morning and it was that life that we celebrated inside the tomb this morning! Jesus promised his disciples as he commissioned them that he would be with them always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). That abiding presence, that life giving presence, that soul-sustaining presence was with us all night in vigil and made manifest in an extraordinary way this morning as we celebrated the Eucharist.

A few days ago, in preparation for this mornings celebration, Frs. Steve, Carl and I made a pilgrimage that followed the footsteps of Jesus in his last days. We basically relives the same steps that we relieve every week in Holy Week. We began at another tomb: that of Lazarus. We prayed inside that tomb that the Lord would grace us with deeper understanding by the experiences we would share over these days as we moved toward our own extraordinary Easter celebration this morning. We took pictures that morning in the tomb of Lazarus and then pictures of each of us emerging from the tomb as though Jesus had called US out of the tomb (That's my "Bartholomew, Come out!" photo on the left). I had a lot of time to think about this last night. That Jesus wants to call all of us out of our tombs. But before we can experience the resurrection, we first have to experience death. I have the privilege (the extreme honor) of baptising new Christians each year at Easter. And each year, this text is read to them before they are baptized:

Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through
a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know
that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done
away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has
been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no
more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once
and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think
of yourselves as (being) dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.
-----Romans 6:3-11

The reminder that we are to "crucify the old self" with Christ is not a one-time thing. In my experience, that IS the Christian life. We have to constantly allow ourselves to die with Christ. We have to constantly let go of our lives (Matthew 10:39) so that we can be raised up with Jesus. Lazarus is a symbol of what Jesus wants to do for all of us, but Lazarus had to lose his life to gain the new Life that Jesus wished to offer him. These are of course, not new insights. They are the same insights that I preach Lent after Lent and Easter after Easter (I am also aware that I am the first recipient of every homily I preach!) But over these last few days I got to have an experience that I have not had for many Easters. I am always so busy preparing the details of everybody else's Easter that I lose my own spiritual experience. Over these days, I have not had to prepare for anyone else. I have been able to bask in the grace of God and listen for my own sake (not for the sake of others). My class mates and I have celebrated Holy Week culminating with our special Easter this morning. But even then, the message is the same as it is for everybody else - Die to self so that Jesus can make resurrection happen in me. If I am to be a true follower of Jesus, the way of the cross must become a daily reality (Luke 9:23). Likewise, Easter, must become a daily reality - that is, we must let the Grace of God rework us more carefully into His image. We must allow the new life of Lazarus, the resurrected life of Jesus become real in us. What stands in the way? Well that's easy - my will... my desire to hold on to what little I have - this insignificant life. But the promise of Christ is that is I am willing to lose my life for the sake of the Gospel, I will find Gospel life.

That's what we commemorated in these last few days as we walked in the foot steps of Jesus, creating our own little "Holy Week," and that's what we celebrated in the tomb of Jesus this morning. Jesus' cross? Yes? Jesus' suffering? Yes. Jesus resurrection? Yes. But also, our cross, our suffering, our resurrection. I may visit some other tombs or graves sometime in the future. But no grave I ever visit will be as packed with meaning, with history, or with the significance of the tomb I prayed and slept next to last night. No grave will ever be as important as the one where I celebrated Mass this morning. I did not go there looking for Jesus - I knew "He is not here..." But I thank God that he is with me and that his grace can give me the same new life he gave Lazarus. Happy Easter from grave that was used by Jesus for only a few hours!