Easter Vigil, 2023
Previous Years: 2021 || 2020 || 2019 || 2018
Preached at the Church of the Assumption in Bellingham, WA
Recording
https://moorejesus.podbean.com/e/the-candle-and-the-water/
Transcript
Thank you to R.M. for editing this transcript.
This liturgy is marked by two major symbols, and we heard about both of them in our readings. The first is the symbol of the candle. We began this liturgy by singing an entire hymn to that candle. That candle itself represents two things. First, of course, and most obviously, it represents the fact that Christ is the light of the world. Christ came into this world as its light. And so, we follow Christ, the light of the world, into this church, into this place where we can worship and receive His light every Sunday or every day, if we choose to, where His light infuses our lives. But the candle also represents the Cross. The Gospel of John talks about Christ being the light of the world. It says:
“The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him,”
We followed this light today into this world.
“…but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.”
Christ, the light has come into the world and He is always the light of the world. But we can’t forget yesterday was Good Friday. Yesterday the light came into the world and we did not recognize Him. And He died on the cross at our hands. That light represents the cross. When we came into the church, we didn’t use a processional cross. We used the candle in place of the cross.
At the baptismal liturgy, we are going to take that candle and we are going to place it in the font. This is an allusion to an episode that happened in the Book of Kings, I believe it was with the prophet Elijah, where there was water that people couldn’t drink, and he threw into that water wood. And after wood was thrown into that water, the water was purified and cleansed.
This candle will be placed into the font to cleanse the font, just as the cross was placed into the world to cleanse the world. The light of Christ who conquered death, that’s what this night is all about, the light of Christ who conquered death is with us this evening. He’s with us in this candle. He’s with us on the cross. Both are true. But even as that candle represents the cross, even as it represents the death of Jesus, more than anything else it represents the resurrection of Jesus. We know that our Lord died, but then He rose from the dead. The light could not be kept out of the world, even though the light came into the world and the world did not know it, and we extinguished the light, the light came back.
Nothing can conquer Jesus Christ. Nothing can conquer the Lord. He conquered even death itself, which means He also conquered sin and anything else that plagues us. And we tonight share in that victory.
The second major symbol that we have tonight is the water. It’s the font. The Israelites were led through the Red Sea. This is an image of baptism. By the Red Sea they were saved from slavery to Pharaoh, as the Exsultet said tonight: “to ransom a slave You gave away Your Son.”
We were slaves to Pharaoh, slaves to sin, slaves to our own human corruption. And yet, the Lord gave His Son to save us from slavery, just like we hear about in the reading with Abraham gave his son. Abraham didn’t even give his son. In place of Isaac, we have the ram caught in the bush. Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is sacrificed in place of Isaac. He is sacrificed in place of us. And so that sacrifice having happened and Jesus having conquered death, we can join in His victory through this font. We go through the Red Sea, and through the Red Sea, having already sacrificed His own Son, the Lord gives us ransom. He saves us from slavery. He buys us back from the one who held us captive.
It is an incredible gift that we receive, baptism. Because in baptism we are joined to Jesus Christ in His death, that represents the cross, and in His resurrection, the light of the world, we are joined to Jesus Christ permanently and forever. You cannot undo baptism, and because of that, you cannot undo the eternal life that is in each of you. Except the catechumens, we’ll get to you very soon. You cannot extinguish the light of the world that lives in you. That light is the victory of Christ over death. Whenever you face death, whenever you face sin, whenever you face struggle or barriers or injustice or betrayal or whatever else. Remember, you’ve passed through the Red Sea. The Lord has already given His Son in your place. The victory that God has won over death persists in you. He continues to conquer death in you every day.
As I mentioned to our catechumens in Spanish, why would you ever want to trade that for anything? If the Lord has already conquered death in you, if He’s already risen from the dead in you, if He’s already given you permanent, eternal life, a guarantee through this font, why would we ever want to return to the world of sin and death? Why would we ever want to trade the Son of God back for our slavery?
We must keep vigilant against the evil one and against the temptations of this world. Because the Lord has given us the greatest gift we will ever receive. That is, eternal life. We must fight diligently anything that would threaten that life, because we know that the Lord conquers all things, including death. If there’s any loss, it’s because of us. Because we will not let him conquer the final sins, the final death in us. You being here tonight is a powerful reminder of the fight that you fight, and the victory that has already been won. May we tonight, in our catechumens, see again our own salvation. May we see in them the resurrection of Christ in our own lives. And may we be refreshed and renewed in our faith, hope, and love in those great virtues given to us by God, so that we can go out into that world and continue to allow Christ to conquer death and to save all people through His resurrection.
Fr. Moore 