In our Easter Vigil service this evening, using Holden Evening Prayer as our guide, we are remined that we have been buried with Christ by our Baptism and receive the promise of His resurrection victory. As we await the coming Easter morning, we do so with joyful expectation, knowing that Jesus is the God of new life and new beginnings.
Good Friday, the day of our Lord’s crucifixion, death, and burial, was certainly a dark day, and not only emotionally. St. Matthew describes the actual darkness during midday. Even the creation itself turned dark. How could anyone expect a normal night of sleep after such a great tragedy? St. John tells us that after that silent Saturday, Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb early on the first day of the week (Sunday) while it was still dark (John 20:1). Christians have from ancient times concluded the Lenten discipline with a night vigil, sometimes through the darkness of the entire Holy Saturday night until Sunday sunrise to celebrate the “Son-rise” of Jesus’ resurrection. And so the great Vigil of Easter is celebrated, centered on the themes of darkness to light and God’s rescue of His people by His mighty arm throughout Old Testament history and now through the Word and Sacraments of Christ. With special attention to the first Reading from Genesis 1, tonight’s celebration embraces the hand of the Lord at work in all of creation, redemption, and sanctification—the entire life of the Christian.