SABC News report on the Archbishop's Easter Vigil sermon

 

"We are seeing clear signs of hope in South Africa today" - Archbishop's Easter sermon

 The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba

Archbishop of Cape Town

Easter Vigil 

St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town

April 4th 2026

Ezekiel 36: 22–28, Romans 6: 3–11, Matthew 28: 1–10

Alleluia, Our Lord has Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Sisters and Brothers in Christ, thank you for being here on this most holy night, when we recall and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Thank you Mr Dean – we really appreciate your leadership here – and the Sub-Dean, the Cathedral staff, all those responsible for the music, as well as to you, members of the congregation who ensure through your sacrificial giving that we have such a beautiful place in which to worship God. A special welcome to those who are visiting – we are privileged to have you join us.

Before I go any further, I ask for your prayers for the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, Archbishop Hosam Naoum, and his people, and for all faithful Christians who defy danger and restrictions to worship in Jerusalem tonight. I was deeply distressed to read last week that Israeli police stopped the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from celebrating Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Although that restriction has now been lifted, let us remember that the current conflict has prevented Muslims, Jews and Christians from observing Ramadan, Passover and Easter in their usual ways. Many in the faith community are interpreting the Israeli restrictions – and especially those on access to Al Aqsa Mosque on Eid – as punishment for the Muslim and Christian communities whose homes are in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

On a more hopeful note, I was excited last week to celebrate the installation of Archbishop Sarah Mullally of Canterbury in her Cathedral. On your behalf, I have welcomed her warmly, and expressed the hope that even as she ministers to all, her ministry will reflect a deep concern for the environment as well as those on the margins of society. In the days which followed her installation, the Primates of the Anglican Communion held a meeting where we discussed issues such as global conflict, the integrity of the environment and the effects of migration, looking at the underlying causes of these challenges. Leading the closing session of the meeting, my challenge to my fellow leaders of Anglican churches across the world was “What gives you joy?” since we cannot afford to get bogged down in despair at the state of our world.

Turning to our readings, the prophet Ezekiel was speaking into a moment of national despair for the society in which he lived. The people had lost their land, their temple and their political independence. They lived in exile and humiliation. Their institutions had collapsed and their confidence was shattered. Into their gloomy situation, God makes a remarkable promise when he declares, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you”. This anticipates the ministry of Jesus who, in his conversation with Nicodemus in John’s Gospel, makes it clear that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit (John 3:5). 

In a similar way, in a single chapter of Matthew, from which we drew our Gospel reading tonight, we see a narrative shifting from one of despair in the previous chapter to one of hope. Matthew helps us to see that this hope, this new Resurrection life, this overturning of the old order and the ushering in of a new season, is often the work of taking small steps, of new life emerging from unexpected places and the most unlikely of people. 

If our hearts are not attuned to these sometimes quiet notes of grace, we will sadly miss the moments of Resurrection. No matter how hard the times and how bleak the outlook, God never abandons us to the worst of times. With this, no doubt, in his spirit, Matthew begins to find a new vocabulary; silence turns into words of proclamation and the fear that dominated the beginning of his story is transformed into deeds of courage. Here we find transformation, new hope, Resurrection.

And Matthew underlines that change is not immediate. It is accomplished on a journey, and it takes hard, disciplined, dedicated work to achieve. There is no Easter without the courage of those who made the journey to the tomb while it was dark, to go to a place where dangers lurked. As so often in the gospels, it was women who took the lead at the first Easter. In a world where theological articulation was a male domain, where women were not heard, it was women – the women who had stood at the foot of the Cross when the men ran away – who stepped out of their comfort zones and defied social and cultural norms to go to the tomb. It was women who found the courage to go in search of new life, so becoming the first of Jesus’s disciples to proclaim the first Easter.

Today it is when things are dark that we are called upon to summon up the courage and to take to the road to make change happen by being a part of that change long before the new era dawns. There are people in our country and our world who, once victory dawns, take credit for it without ever putting in any work when the night was dark, the road was long, and working for change was costly. But Matthew’s Gospel praises those who work in the dark in dangerous times, who are prepared to abandon their comfort zones and go to the tombs, and there to challenge the culture of death. History and new life emerges from hearts which, like those of the women at the tomb, are filled with courage, overcome life’s restrictions and proclaim confidently that “The Lord has risen.”

Easter should be a time of celebration, of renewal and of hope. But that is a hard sell, given the current state of the world. The Middle East is consumed by war, and those celebrating Easter in Jerusalem and other cities and towns across the region do so under the threat of drones and missiles. Not only that, the conflict threatens to spread, and its effects – especially the restrictions on oil and gas exports – are being experienced across the globe. Escalating petrol and especially diesel prices raise the spectre of rationing, speed restrictions and higher food prices. The war in Ukraine continues, with South Africans unwittingly and tragically dragged into it under false pretences. In Sudan we are seeing a repeat of the genocide of 20 years ago, apparently perpetrated by largely the same actors.

We are navigating a world filled with destruction and fear, not only abroad but at home. In many of our communities, an almost unstoppable culture of violence seems to have taken hold, fuelled by the vulnerability that comes from increasing poverty, unemployment and the plethora of social pathologies that democratic governance has failed to address after three decades. Waking up in the morning, it is almost a surprise not to read about a new corruption scandal involving those who pervert politics for self-serving ends. Whistle-blowers, witnesses and professionals such as lawyers are assassinated in brazen attempts to escape the consequences of taking bribes from tenderpreneurs. In Cape Town, teenagers are killed, victims of gang violence, with frightening regularity and domestic violence continues to stalk households. 

Perhaps worst of all, the confusing spectacle of claim and counter-claim we are seeing before Justice Madlanga and his fellow commissioners leaves the average South African unable to judge which police general is honest and who is controlled by a crime syndicate. Although we must wait for the Commission to sort the truth from the lies, it is already clear that the public cannot rely on the police service’s leadership, considered as a whole, to end the violence and criminality which has percolated to the top of society. At the same time we need to celebrate those officers in police stations across the country who do serve the public with dedication and empathy.

An evil which is not getting enough attention is how online gambling, easily accessible to anyone with a smartphone, is ruining people’s lives. In a recent discussion paper on online and interactive gambling, the National Treasury reported that annual betting revenue in South Africa has sky-rocketed by 390 percent in the past five years – from around R10.6 billion to R52 billion, with online betting estimated to generate more than R44 billion a year.

At a recent meeting, Anglican bishops from across Southern Africa gave accounts ranging from pensioners in South Africa gambling away their SASSA grants to students squandering financial aid for their studies. We heard of graduates who can’t find work borrowing money to gamble with in the hope of making a living, and of young people committing suicide in despair as a result of losing everything. As Dr Imraan Buccus has said, gambling has become “a form of economic self-medication, a desperate search for luck in a society that offers no opportunity.” 

The crisis that harmful gambling represents for society must be addressed urgently across government and civil society. We need to treat gambling the way we dealt with smoking and alcohol, and consider banning – or at least imposing strict restrictions on – gambling advertising. 

But the story of Easter tells us that we need not despair. On Good Friday, we heard a story of events 2,000 years ago that were not so different from what we see today. The first Easter took place when Palestine was oppressed by the brutal machinery of the Roman Empire. It was preceded by the harsh reality of pain, destruction, the demise of dignity, a political trial that perverted justice, the nailing of a man to a cross and the lives of his followers torn apart by cruelty. 

Just as the story of resurrection brought hope to the followers of Jesus, so we are seeing clear signs of hope in South Africa today. Matric pass rates are improving. The media continues to play a crucial role in exposing bad governance. Our Finance Minister tells us that levels of government debt are stabilising. Load shedding is largely something of the past, and reforms in power generation and transport networks are giving hope for better economic growth and therefore job creation. Business leaders with strong liberation movement credentials tell me they are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for investment in new economic activity. There is growing recognition that blindly enforcing the prescriptions of ideologues, whether on the left or the right, will not help our country to grow. Instead we are seeing the tens of thousands of highly-qualified graduates emerging from our universities looking for more pragmatic solutions to our problems. 

Thirty years ago, Desmond Tutu used to say that our country’s festering wounds needed to be opened, cleaned and cauterised before we would see healing. Today I believe the Madlanga Commission can perform that role – as long as its report is followed by strong and courageous action to root out the rot in our justice system. The challenges posed by its report will present President Cyril Ramaphosa with the most consequential decisions of his presidency. Fortunately he has on his side the unprecedented ferment in political parties, underpinned by our tradition of vigorous debate and civic engagement, which has the potential to sideline ageing leaders with entrenched positions and to create innovative new alliances.

Make no mistake, friends, the challenges we face are enormous, but turning around the ship of state in South Africa is more like altering the course of a supertanker than that of a speedboat – it will take time.

So this Easter, let us celebrate the signs of progress and our potential to do better as a nation. Prophetic faith insists that celebration itself can be an ethical act – a refusal to let cynicism have the final word. To rejoice responsibly is to affirm that goodness, beauty, and human dignity are not illusions but signs of God’s intention for the world.

As we engage our future, our season of new life, we keep in our hearts the reminder that resonates through Matthew’s Gospel – Jesus’ repeated assurance, “Be not afraid!” As we are told in Ezekiel, if we follow God’s statutes and observe God’s ordinances, “then you  shall be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36: 27-28) 

With a confused and often chaotic world around us, with brokenness in our hearts, and amidst communities that are deeply fractured, Easter consoles us, challenges us: “Be not afraid!” and so gives us hope for all that lies ahead. 

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed! 

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