He is risen!
Has there ever been a more meaningful, more wonderful phrase?
If you were one of Jesus' disciples on the day after Good Friday, your world has come crashing down around you. To follow this young rabbi, you have left all your past life behind and believed that this man was the Messiah, the Son of God. He was going to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into being and you and your fellow disciples were even figuring out your rank or precedence in the new Kingdom.
Then, in the space of 24 hours everything changes and not for the better. One of you betrays Jesus to the Jewish authorities and goes off to die. (Or to kill himself, depending on which Gospel you’re reading.) Peter, the one who proclaimed Jesus’ divinity not so long ago, denies knowing Jesus. Jesus himself is beaten and tortured by the Jewish authorities, who then turn him over to the Roman governor. Pilate probably doesn’t care about this “Son of God” business, he’s concerned with maintaining order and Palestine, and Jesus is clearly a threat to that order. So he has Jesus crucified, a customary means of execution for those who threaten the Empire. Jesus dies and is placed in a tomb and the Disciples, not unreasonably fearing that they’re next, sit among their broken dreams and wait for the knock on the door.
All the things Jesus preached, all the things he was supposed to be—the Messiah, the Son of God—can’t possibly apply to a corpse on the cross. Clearly, that was the end of Christianity.
Except, of course, it wasn’t. On the day after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary” rush in with astonishing news—Jesus has come back to life! First, an angel showed them the empty tomb and said that Jesus had been raised, as he had said. Then, they saw Jesus himself, who told them “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” By the way, in all the Gospels, Mary Magdalene is the first to see and speak to the risen Lord!
Can you imagine their wonder and joy—and probably some skepticism?
There is historical evidence that a man named Jesus lived in Palestine during the early First Century, that he preached a message of redemption, and that he was executed by the Romans. I have heard it described that there was as much or more historical evidence of the existence of Jesus than of Julius Caesar! But no one was present for the resurrection; there were no eyewitnesses. And skeptics existed. We will hear about one, Thomas, next week.
But I suggest this to you. Clearly, something happened, an event of marvelous power, an event that enabled these poorly educated peasants (for the most part) to establish what was first a Jewish sect, then a separate faith, then within 300 years the official religion of the Empire, and now, two millennia later, a faith that spans the globe and has profoundly shaped human history.
In Jesus’ resurrection (as we shall learn in the weeks to come, a bodily resurrection), we have God’s assurance that this life is not truly the bounds of our existence and that we will be reunited with those who have gone before us and those who come after us. I have confidence that, in God’s time, in some marvelous way, I will be reunited with my parents and grandparents and friends who have gone before me and those who will linger here after me.
Resurrection is not a heavenly reward as much as it is an opportunity for courage and risk. It is an invitation to spend your life with passion for others; to love others as God has loved you. Resurrection is a spiritual reality about life and love. We can risk breaking our hearts and loving the wrong people, serving and witnessing, loving justice and mercy. We can take these risks because we know that, in the Resurrection, God honors life and gives it as a gift again and again.
Last night, we mourned Jesus’ death. Tonight we no longer seek him in the tomb. He waits for us to follow him. He waits to take us beyond the end that we have known, beyond mourning, beyond the prison of time and death. When we renew our baptismal vows, we remember that we are changed forever. We are born anew, we live in him and he lives in us. As the angel told Mary, “Do not be afraid!”
On this night of triumph, I bid you remember the words of Pope John Paul II as he began his ministry in 1978:
Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help … all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ! To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows “what is in man”. He alone knows it.
So often today man does not know what is within him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
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