Defy the world with its “oughts” and “shoulds,” for in Christ, it is finished.
I’ll admit that I don’t observe the twelve days of Christmas. At my house, once the festivities are over, the presents open, and the kids are busy playing with new toys, I have turned my attention to the coming new year, and the lights come down pronto. The Church Calendar adherents have long chided me, but I am sufficiently “low church” to let it roll off my back.
But I am also sufficiently “high church” to know that today, Easter, marks the end of Lent, and all the “Hallelujahs” and “Gloria” that we packed away for the penitential season come roaring back into the liturgy as we enter the most incredible feast on the church calendar. If we had 40 days to fast, it makes sense that we should get 50 days to feast in this Eastertide, lasting through Ascension Sunday until Pentecost.
There are church traditions that forbid any fasting in this period. If you regularly fast, say on Fridays (as was the tradition in the church for centuries), you are commanded to feast!
I might prefer “invited” over “commanded,” but you get the gist.
We sometimes talk of the “now and not yet” of Christianity. It’s kind of like being in escrow. Yes, it’s yours, but no, you can’t yet move in. Depending on your disposition, you might lean into one more than the other. Perhaps the “Not Yet” makes more sense in seasons of sorrow. But we are invited, in this festive Eastertide, to lean into the “now” of it all—delight in one of God’s good gifts in light of the Resurrection. Spend extra time with loved ones, get out in nature, let go of a petty grudge, and go back for seconds.
We are invited, in this festive Eastertide, to lean into the “now” of it all—delight in one of God’s good gifts in light of the Resurrection.
St. Paul routinely reminds us that the “now” is real. Consider Ephesians 2:4-6: “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
“Raised us up and seated us” are in the past tense. And, in Colossians 2:12, we read, “When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
The glorious Easter feast is not for theologies of glory (making your faith about what you do) or the prosperity gospel (promising health and wealth) but for leaning into the “already.” You are united with Christ; you have been baptized and clothed in his righteousness. Defy the world with its “oughts” and “shoulds,” for in Christ, it is finished. You are united to him and raised up to the heavenly places.
John Chrysostom, a church father in 4th century Constantinople, worried that the invitation to feast might not be taken seriously. Or worse, it would be regulated by the spiritual bookkeepers of his day. In an Easter sermon, he preached on the parable of the workers in the vineyard; he warned against feasting only insofar as you properly fasted. He claimed that those who kept a fast are like those who were called in the first hour, but even those who didn’t receive the same share. Hear Chrysostom’s Easter proclamation and invitation:
“Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless; honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.”
Today and for 49 more days, we are called to lean into the “now” to be present at the great “feast of victory for our God, for the lamb who was slain has begun his reign,” and you are seated with him. Happy Easter! He is Risen.
