The first Book of Holy Scripture, the Book of Genesis, starts out by saying, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void.”  The reason that the earth was without form and void is because when the Lord God Almighty created, the first thing He did was to bring into being the heavens and all the angelic creatures of reason, . . . but when one of that angelic host, whom we know by the name of Satan; . . . when one of the angelic host learned of God’s intent to bring a material order into existence so that it might be in communion with the divine order, . . . when Satan learned that he would be compelled to share his dignity with mere creatures made of dirt(!), . . . he rebelled.  Satan rebelled, and there was warfare in heaven . . . so that Satan, with all his apostate angels, was driven from the Presence of God.

    Smarting from this disgrace, . . . and out of spite, and as a mockery of God’s desires . . . Satan fashioned a creature who was called “Rahab”, a name which means (in Hebrew) “the boisterous one.”  Rahab was a Chaos Monster.  It was a dragon of galactic proportions with terrible red eyes and bronze scales.  And Rahab’s tail would writhe about eternity roiling all the material order, and Rahab would burn it with its breath.  The angelic host could do nothing about Rahab, because Rahab was an irrational creature -- a Chaos Monster -- immune to the angelic powers of reason and order.  . . . Which is why “in the beginning . . . the earth was without form and void.”  Because Satan’s dragon would smash to smithereens and burn to cinders anything God might fashion within the material order.  But, finally, the Lord God had enough of Satan’s foolishness, and He reached out His arm and seized Rahab by the snout.  That creature’s irrational response was to writhe and breathe fire, . . . but because the Lord God had hold of its snout Rahab’s fire had nowhere to go . . . and so, . . . Rahab exploded!  Astronomers have a theory about the formation of the universe which they call the “Big Bang Theory” . . . and they are right.  . . . All those bits of swirling gas expanding outward . . . are what’s left of Rahab.

    This mighty act of God made a deep impression upon the created order.  And so, in the days of the prophet Isaiah, when God’s people found themselves beset by the wild and chaotic armies of a wild and chaotic nation, the Assyrians, … the prophet cries out

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the days of old, . . . Was it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon?

. . . Which brings Friday to mind, doesn’t it?  When the prophet Isaiah calls out to God to wake up and act before chaos gets the better of us, . . . I think of Friday, when we hear again Saint John’s account of the Passion and Death of Jesus, when wild and chaotic men seize the Son of God and free a murderer in order to kill an honest rabbi.  What has become of the orderly and tender teachings of gentle Jesus; . . . what has become of the God Whose Son has taught us “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven”; “Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”; “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven?”  How strong can the arm of the Lord God Almighty be when jealous and indifferent men, despising God’s gentleness, are permitted to crucify Jesus . . . and hand over His ragged body to be hastily set inside a tomb?  … Like Rahab, the chaos of death seems to have made even the power and promises of God . . . into nothing.

    And yet, here we are on Sunday . . . and the tomb is empty.  There is no dead body.  And here are two angels of Heaven asking, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”  . . . Why, indeed?  If you desire life, then why concern yourself with the proximity of death?  . . . Jesus never taught us the secrets of avoiding heart attack; . . . he never uttered a word about the diet which will prevent cancer . . . or stroke.  Jesus never spoke a word about how we might avoid death; … He only said:  live simply, remain detached from the seduction of the world, your own flesh, and the devil, . . . and keep heart and mind and soul focused upon the Way of the Living God.

    What is the good of that?  . . . Well, the tomb is empty!  Christ is risen!  The Word of God came to us clothed in our humanity.  And when Death tried to breathe upon Him and obliterate Him, . . . the Beast was shattered and broken.  The Word of God has come to us clothed in our humanity so that anyone who will live the life of God’s Word can be clothed in His divinity.  . . . Christ is our life, and Death cannot hold Him; . . . and neither can it touch anyone who has put Christ on.  So, why look for life by avoiding death?

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For [in Christ] you have died, and your life is hid with [Him] in God.  [And] when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

For, Christ is risen!  Alleluia!