Easter is the most joyful day of the Christian calendar. It is a day filled with affirmations of love and life - affirmations in our readings, in our music, and (perhaps most poignantly) in the baptismal vows which will be made here this morning. Yet, as I tried to prepare my heart for the uplifting message of the empty tomb and the risen Christ, I found myself strangely distracted by current events. New Testament ethics - my field of specialization - was in the news, and I found myself facing a barrage of emotions, not all of them positive. But I followed the path on which these distractions led me, and found the empty tomb of the living God once again. Now I invite you to re-trace this past week's journey with me.
Anyone who follows the news south of the border has heard the story of Terri Schiavo. Ms Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state for fifteen years. She maintains respiratory and circulatory functions with minimal brainstem activity - the rest of her brain having long since atrophied - and has been kept alive as a result of a feeding tube, which was removed recently. Her situation gained notoriety when the US Congress intervened to pass legislation granting federal courts jurisdiction to hear appeals brought forward by Ms Schiavo's parents, who want the tube re-attached. As the week wore on, the court battles continued, and protests and debate intensified.
Like many people, I think, I tried to ignore the story at first. "It's a private matter," I told myself, "and it's being exploited." But if there's any redemptive aspect to the publicity surrounding this personal tragedy - and I admit it's a slight one - it may be that we are invited to reassess what resurrection faith really means to us. As I journeyed through Holy Week to the cross, and began contemplating the significance of Christ's resurrection, one phrase used by those who oppose the removal of Ms Schiavo's feeding tube kept coming back to me. The politicians and pundits kept talking about how they wanted to build a "culture of life." Now, I'm all for a culture of life. I think it is an altogether positive thing to be in favour of life. Come to think of it, apart from a few psychopaths, I would imagine everybody wants to build a culture of life. The question is, "what does it mean?"
I raise Ms Schiavo's situation not because I want to commend a particular stance on whether she should or should not be allowed to die. That would be presumptuous of me, given that this is a personal matter between her family and her doctors. It is an ethical dilemma that, unfortunately, is not unique. It is repeated throughout hospitals in the developed world every day. We have the luxury, I suppose I would call it the terrible luxury of being able to keep our loved ones existing on heart/lung machines indefinitely, or to keep pumping nutrition into those who are, for all intents and purposes, brain dead. Most people in the world don't have that luxury. Many people can't even get access to safe drinking water, much less even minimally appropriate health care. In certain places in the world I have beaten the odds of survival by having seen my fortieth birthday.
So, I have a few questions for those on the streets, in the media, and in the legislatures who have invested so much time, energy, and money into this personal family tragedy through appeals to a "culture of life." Is a culture of life encouraged when the poor continue to fall ill and die because of inadequate access to health care? Is a culture of life nurtured when governments and corporations facilitate the destruction of the ecological systems that make life itself possible? Is a culture of life celebrated when we are encouraged to value that which we can buy, rather than those whom we could love? Is a culture of life embraced when people die as a result of terrorism and war, crushing poverty, and preventable diseases? With all due respect, I think I would have to call that something else. A culture of death, perhaps? Focussing on individual life-and-death tragedies is a sideshow at best, a diversion from what I believe are true culture of life issues. Sadly, I don't expect to see the media or legislators rushing to deal with them.
God became manifest as a human being for one reason and one reason only - to defeat the culture of death and inaugurate a culture of life. He did this by what he taught and did - reaching out to those who were oppressed by evil, and above all by overcoming death on a cross and rising to life. This event, Christ's resurrection, shatters history and time, and shows us what a culture of life really is. It is about no longer having to fear death. It is about no longer having to feel we must submit to the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. The resurrection of Christ is an act of perfect love - the perfect love which, Scripture teaches us, casts out all fear.
Jesus told his disciples, "it is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is useless." And in that comment lies the seed of the truth about a culture of life. It is spiritual. It is about finding and nourishing that which makes for a world modelled on the will of God, not clinging to what is transitory. Through scripture, prayer, and the sacraments, we should all know what that will is. As we heard this morning the Lord speak through the prophet Jeremiah, "I have loved you with an everlasting love. I will build you and you shall be built. You shall take your tambourines and dance. You shall plant vineyards and enjoy the fruit."
This is a God who speaks of abundant life nourished through a loving encounter with the one who is Love. This is a God who speaks of liberation and joy, made possible by God's faithfulness. This is a God who cannot say "no" to us - a God who wants us, as well, to say yes - to say yes to the life and love made possible through God's gift of the Holy Spirit. How can we have the courage to say "yes" in a culture that glorifies death in its consumerism, its militarism, and its institutionalization of spirituality? We have to overcome fear, first of all by accepting the perfect love that casts out all fear. We have the courage to do this when we stand with Mary Magdalene in the garden and recognize Love when he calls our name. For just as Mary recognized Jesus when he uttered her name, we too are invited to an encounter with the Risen Christ, to be addressed by him, and to respond.
My friends, there is a difference between existence and life. The love of God makes life itself possible - Creation and sustenance is an unmerited gift of grace. But the life we have makes the love of God possible. We make that love possible every day in the choice we make to follow the path of God, building a realm of justice, peace, and love in our families, our parish, our neighbourhoods, our world. And when we do that, we move from existence to life that is life indeed. As we embark on this Paschal season, let us celebrate Christ's culture of life - a true culture of life which has the power to transform the world, and to transform ourselves in the bargain. Amen.