The Third Sunday after Easter (April 30, 2023)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

I was talking with a priest friend at the Clergy Retreat and he was telling me a story where he invited someone to preach at his church and this person proceeded to undo years of teaching because he preached a sermon where told these people that he was going to teach them a prayer that would get them anything they wanted from God. Of course, it doesn’t work like this but, at the same time, would we love for it to? People are always looking for power. Maybe they look to their money or political power or their physique or intellectual ability, social clout, or some sort of mantra/affirmation or power of positive thinking. As Christians, we are told not to look to these things for power. Instead, we are invited to participate in the Christ story. That invitation is an invitation to die: our old man and our flesh is put to death as we pick up our crosses. But it’s also an invitation to be raised: the new man is here and we are raised to walk in the newness of life. And so the baptized person is always engaged in a synthesis of these two poles: putting off and putting on, mortification and glory, death and resurrection.

This season of Eastertide, which only lasts two more weeks, is a reminder to us that we as Christians are sharers in his death and life and that it’s there we find his power and righteousness, just like Hannah did in our Old Testament reading this morning. And if we follow Christ, that power will transform our lives into lives of doxology, or praise.

This is what we find in the Song of Hannah, the original Magnificat in 1 Samuel 2. Hannah was a Jewish woman married to a man named Elkanah in Israel’s pre-monarchical period. The problem with Elkanah was that he was a bigamist, he had two wives. His other wife was named Peninnah. In the ancient world, it’s important to remember that children, especially male children, were an important means of security, especially for women. The problem in this situation was that Peninnah had children but Hannah was barren. To make matters worse, Peninnah mocked and insulted Hannah’s infertility. And during this whole ordeal, Elkanah is no help. When Hannah wept over the issue, he would ask the most tone-deaf question: “Am I not more to you than 10 sons?” (Men, please take note of what not to do here). So Hannah goes to the Tabernacle and she prays and she prays and she prays with great faith. She prays so hard that Eli, the priest, thinks she’s drunk. Through the priest, God promises Hannah a son. Sure enough, Samuel was born shortly thereafter, and she dedicated him back to God. And of course Samuel became one of the most important prophets in Israel’s history. And because of this miracle, Hannah sings a song, the first Magnificat, a hymn so profound it even inspired the Blessed Virgin Mary in her beautiful song found in Luke.

Hannah’s song is so beautiful and profound that St. Augustine called her a prophet who spoke “the grace of God itself.” It’s a song that rejoices, not in her personal achievement, power, or ability, but in the holiness and power of God. And amidst this doxology, this praise, there is an anticipation that those who suppose themselves to be powerful because of their wealth or political power or whatever else will be humbled: “The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, To set them among princes.” This is a longing for God to demonstrate his power, not just by bringing down the powerful, but also by empowering the powerless, just like he did with Hannah. Ultimately, though, this finds its culmination in the Cross and Resurrection where God defeats our spiritual enemies. In Colossians 2:14-15, Paul explains that “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” In Hebrews 2:14-15 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

In our Collect today, there’s the phrase, “grant unto all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion.” Eastertide is an invitation into the paradox and reversal of the Christ story. We see this commonly by the baptism of those who are unbaptized, usually at the Easter Vigil or on Easter day but also throughout the season. But this invitation isn’t just for the uninitiated, it’s for all of us to go further up and further into the mystery of our redemption. And we do this by way of a two-fold movement. First, we give up those things that are contrary to our profession: namely, error and idols, those things we look to for power like money, politics, and whatever else; we give up vices and habitual sins, an ongoing fight to purge ourselves of those attachments that control us; and we set aside those things which do not help us reach our ultimate end. But the reason we get rid of these things is to embrace the Good. We begin by embracing the truth of the Gospel which works to form and shape us into the new creation of God that we are by virtue of baptism. We begin to grow in the positive virtues infused into us by the Holy Spirit, especially the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. And it means we think about our actions, intentionally choosing those things that move us towards our ultimate end.

Hannah’s Song, paired with our Collect today, remind us to trust in God’s power and righteousness. For Hannah, God’s power and justice was demonstrated in her pregnancy despite her barrenness; it was, in microcosm, the humiliation of the proud and the lifting up of the lowly. Our Collect has us consider God’s power as the source of truth and righteousness, forcing us to recognize that we require that power working in us to live out our calling as Christians. Ultimately, Eastertide reminds us that God’s power and righteousness are revealed definitively in the Resurrection of Christ. The Resurrection marks God’s victory over death, sin, and the devil because it means Jesus’ sacrifice has been accomplished and is acceptable. The Resurrection is the fulfillment of promises made throughout the Holy Scriptures that anticipate God’s ultimate victory. And the resurrection is a vindication of Jesus Christ, showing us he is who he says he is.

And so what is our response to this historical fact of the Resurrection? The only answer can be worship and adoration. We love and worship God, not only with our minds and words, but with our actions. This is the point of liturgy, it’s the full embodiment of worship where we use our lips and vocal cords to speak the Word; we use our ears and minds to hear and meditate on the Word; we use our bodies to bow, genuflect, make the sign of the Cross, and other ways of showing reverence to sacred realities; and we use our mouths to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord. But even more, all this points us even further, it points us to offer up our lives as a perpetual doxology, “not only with our lips but in our lives.” We all have struggles, we all have besetting sins, bad habits, problems, health issues. What would it look like for us to turn these situations over to God who can create life where there is no life, who can raise from the dead? Ultimately, in offering our whole selves to him—body and soul—we are offering what Thomas Aquinas called latria, a special and totalizing worship due only to God alone.

The Resurrection is a constant reminder that there is another possibility, that there is a new way of being, a new way of life imbued with and transfigured with God’s power. Maybe that doesn’t look like what we thought or hoped, but we know where it ends. And so don’t look for power inside yourself, don’t look to Democrats or Republicans, money, social clout, IQ, degrees, or mantras. These are going to disappoint you someway, somehow. The only place to find that power is on your knees in front of the Cross which always take us to that empty tomb.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.