April 20, 2025 – Easter Sunday
Kahu Kealahou Alika
The sands at Punalu‘u on the southeastern coast of the Ka‘u district on the island of Hawai‘i was formed when lava flows from nearby eruptions found their way to the ocean. The lava cooled rapidly and shattered into tiny fragments resulting in a glassy, black sand that was then carried by ocean currents and set down along the shoreline.
The beach at Punalu‘u is home to a large bale of green sea turtles. Some lay on the sand basking in the sun. Others can be seen bobbing in the surf as on shore winds from the open ocean pushes waves over the volcanic reef and onto the beach.
Whenever I have found myself troubled or unable to make clear decisions in my life, I would often go for a walk on a beach or simply sit on the shoreline. I have done that on a number of different occasions over the years once at Ha‘ena on the island of Kaua‘i; another time at Mo‘omoni on Moloka‘i and one day at Honokōhau along the Kona coastline of Hawai‘i island and here in Mākena at Oneuli.
Whether walking or sitting, I would inevitably see a honu –a turtle. I never went looking for a turtle but over the years have gone by, I have become aware of the significance of their presence in my life.
Long, long ago it is said that a green sea turtle named Kauila made her home at Punalu‘u. She was empowered with the ability to turn herself from a turtle into human being and play with the children along the shoreline and keep watch over them.
If you visit the beach at Punalu‘u, you will see the turtles, but you will also see water bubbling up through the black sand. It is said that the cool mountain water comes from Mauna Loa and percolates through the porous lava. This was Kauila‘s gift: fresh water for the people. (Turtle Talk, “The Legend of Kauila at Punalu‘u, Turtle Talk, www.tammy yee.com)
There are those who will be quick to dismiss the story of Kauila as a fairytale, a made-up story, convinced that such a story could not possibly be true. How could a turtle dig a nest down so deep that a spring of fresh water could emerge? How could she turn herself into a human being?
For me, the story of Kauila is much more than the fanciful imagination of a storyteller mesmerized by the site of a multitude of turtles and a fresh water spring. Overtime, the story, the myth of Kauilawas told from one generation to the next.
While some will say that such a myth cannot be literally true, I would say to you that the story, the myth of Kauila nevertheless teaches us a truth and that is we learn about a mother’s love for her children – watching them play and providing them with water to quench their thirst.
Centuries ago, the story is told of a woman named Mary who gave birth to a child whom she named Jesus. In a way, the story of Jesus’ birth, his life, death and resurrection may seem fanciful to some hearing it for the first time.
A man named Joseph was engaged to be married to a woman named Mary. An angel named Gabriel came to Joseph in a dream and startled him by saying something to the effect of: “Oh, by the way Joseph, the woman to whom you are engaged is hāpai. She is pregnant and you’re not the father.” Joseph could have easily spared himself and Mary the embarrassment and simply said, “Well getting married now does not seem like a good idea. I am out of here.” He could have said that but he didn’t. He stayed. (Matthew 1:18-25)
Although he was not Jesus’ biological father, Joseph, together with Mary raised Jesus as their son. Joseph became Jesus’ hānai father.
The birth of Jesus came after the passing of 42 generations (Matthew 1:1-17). Throughout the generations from Abraham to David, from David to the deportation to Babylon, from Babylon to Jesus. For his ‘ohana, for his family and for our own families, God has been and continues to be our dwelling place throughout the generations.
God has been our dwelling place because all of us are members of the human family and as such we are a messy and wonderful mix of what it means to be family to each other whether we are kama‘āina, born and raised here in Hawai‘I, or malihini – visitors or newcomers for whom Maui is now home. We are ‘ohana. We are family, some by koko – by blood – others through marriage, many by our own choosing.
I am the oldest of 8 half- siblings in my family –a sister and three brothers from my mother’s two marriages and a brother and two sisters from my father’s marriage. I was hānai to my maternal grandfather and raised by him from the age of 3 to the age of 14.
Throughout my own life, I have known and seen families represented in a variety of configurations having grown up watching American television and film. From The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet to The Brady Bunch; from Flipper to Edie’s Father and The Real McCoys to The Waltons; from All in the Family to The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son to Fresh Off the Boat; from This Is Us to The Neighborhood; from The Golden Girls to Will & Grace, and from Coco to Pocahontas to Lilo & Stitch, all of the television sitcoms and animated films offer us what weknow to be true – there is diversity in what it means to be a family.
Within each configuration of a chosen family there is a diversity of relationships including husbands and wives, parents, single parents, single men and single women, grandparents and great-grandparents, sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, cousins, and in-laws. All of the families include a diversity of folks from different racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as cultural, religious and spiritual traditions.
The story of Easter has always been and will always be at the center of our faith because it compels us to see that it is ultimately a story about family – about biological families, chosen families, the human family. It is a story contained not only in our reading from The Gospel According to Luke (24:1-12) but also in the accounts found in the writings in Matthew (Matthew 27:57-66; 28:1-10) and in the writings of John (John 20:1-18).
We are given a sense that the first Easter was an incredible event, not only in the popular sense of something that was spectacular, but also in the sense of something that in many ways did not seem credible to some, an occurrence that was impossible to believe. Although Luke is firm in asserting that Jesus rose from the dead, he also shows us that what happened that first Easter day was not something he or many others fully understood.
At the heart of the story are the women who became family to each other and to Jesus. They found their way to the tomb where he was buried to anoint his body with spices, a traditional burial practice for women in their day. In our reading from The Gospel According to Luke, it is not only Mary Magdalene but Joanna as well as Mary the mother of James and several other women who find their way to the empty tomb. In The Gospel According to Mark, we come to understand that Salome, the mother of James and John, was also among the women who brought spices to the tomb to anoint Jesus.
One of the women who was not at the tomb was his mother. Although Mary was present when Jesus died, there is nothing explicit in the various accounts of that day that she was among the women who went to the tomb. Despite her apparent absence at the tomb, we can only imagine the grief she felt of a mother’s love in mourning for her son.
The story of Easter compels us to see in the face of death – the promise of new life. Some of us may see that promise of new life as something beyond death. But I would say to you that the promise of new life is a life that is ours here and now – in this very moment.
On a day such as this, we lift our voices up and give thanks for our families and to our families as fragile and broken or as strong and resilient as they may be. In a moment, Jamie Lawrence will come to sing Mele ‘Ohana – a song about family – and Ke‘ala Pasco will dance to the Hawaiian lyrics composed by the late Charles Kaupu and the English lyrics and music composed by Damon Williams.
It is a song about the aloha that binds us together as family. I imagine if Jesus was born here in Hawai‘i, he would have stories to tell about turtles and he would not hesitate to sing the refrain from Mele ‘Ohana – “Eia ku‘u aloha iā ‘oukou. Here is my love, my aloha for all of you.”
Ke hāpai nei ka leo i ku‘u ‘ohana
Na kealoha e kau ka lei i ku‘u poli
Nāu ku‘umakana aloha e
Kēia ‘āina pūlama mai
I loko oku‘u na‘au
Na ke Akua e mālama mau
Eia ku‘ualoha iā ‘oukou
I lift my voice up to my family
Whose love I wear upon my chest
This is my gift of lovefor you
From this land that has nurtured me
It remainshere in my heart
Cared forever by God
Here is my love for all of you
Na ke Akua emālama mau
Eia ku‘u aloha iā ‘oukou
Here is my love for all of you
I loko o ku‘u na‘au
Na ke Akua e mālama mau
Here is my love – Eia ku‘u aloha
Here is my love for all of you