Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024
Acts 10:34, 36-43; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; John 20:1-18
Before his assassination, Romero stated, “As a Christian, I do not believe in death without resurrection. If I am killed, I shall rise in the Salvadoran people.” His words are still chanted today, “They can kill me, but they will never kill justice.” We all know the history of El-Salvador and today Oscar Romero is alive in the hearts of every El-Salvadorian.
Today we can again sing "Halleluiah" that we have not sung all through Lent. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad (Psalm 118:24). This proclamation summarizes the essence of our faith: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the cornerstone of our beliefs, the source of our hope, and the promise of our salvation. Easter Sunday is a celebration of this transformative event, a day when darkness is vanquished by the brilliant light of Christ's triumph over death.
Why do we rejoice today? We rejoice because our faith in Christ has been vindicated, truth has triumphed over falsity, justice over injustice.
I am sure all of us are familiar with Batman series. First you see an innocent and helpless victim being attacked, robbed, kidnapped, assaulted and tortured by a wicked assailant. And we feel so bad seeing the triumph of the bad guy. Then, almost at the point where the victim has given up hope and is at the point of death, down from the skies comes Batman to the rescue. He battles and defeats the bad guy and rescues the innocent victim. And we feel happy inside at the triumph of justice.
Today’s Gospel from John draws our attention to the empty tomb as the sign of Jesus’ resurrection to life. In this empty tomb story John involves Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and his beloved disciple. It was the first day after Sabbath, first day of the Christian week when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus. It was a Jewish custom to visit the tomb of the beloved departed at least for three days after the burial. She was the first one to discover that the tomb where Jesus was buried was now empty. As she approached the tomb she saw the stone rolled back and wondered who could have removed such a heavy stone. Her immediate conclusion was that the body was taken away by somebody.
She immediately ran to the disciples to inform the matter of the missing body of the Lord. She reported the matter to Peter who was already accepted as the Leader of the group. Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved run to the tomb. They saw the entire scene, they understood and they believed in the act of the resurrection.
The fact that the tomb was empty is confirmed by Peter and the beloved disciple. They too had sensed the urgency and so they ran to the tomb to confirm Mary Magdalene’s report. Much has been said about the detail that the beloved disciple outran Peter but most of it seems to be creative speculation. What is really important is what the beloved disciple and Peter see when they arrive at the tomb.
The body is indeed gone but they found the burial clothes there itself. Peter noticed that the head covering had been rolled up separately and placed in a different location from the other burial clothes. The evidence points to two conclusions. First, the body is indeed gone. Second, it has not been stolen by grave robbers or anyone else. Robbers would not have taken the time to remove the burial clothes and put them in places where they could be immediately seen.
To the Disciples the Resurrection was a new experience. It was something totally unexpected and new. It gave them a new vision of life. They were persons totally transformed with the presence of the Resurrected Jesus. They had seen his suffering and during that time most of them had remained hidden out of fear. For them as it is for us the celebration of Easter Sunday totally reverses the image of Good Friday. It tell us what Good Friday is about; It tells us that what took place on the cross on Good Friday was not just a simple death but a real sacrifice, it was not a defeat but a triumph over sin and death, and it was not an end but a great beginning. Jesus accepted death in total obedience to his Father. He tells the Father that he is ready to do his will and sacrificed himself for the salvation of the world. His death was not a defeat but a triumph over sin and death.
We see here Mary Magdalene ran to tell, other disciples ran to see the tomb. Then we see throughout the Acts of the Apostles ‘a Run’: Resurrected people run; run to proclaim. Mary Magdalene runs to the tomb, then runs to inform the disciples; the disciples run, that’s why we call the book from which we read the whole of the Easter season - the Acts of the Apostles – the Act of running to proclaim the good news. We cannot but run to proclaim, run to share the joy.
On this day of the resurrection of Jesus, this short write up ‘Break open the tomb’ is so meaningful to us:
Where I have buried my compassion: Break open the tomb.
Where I have buried my sense of mercy: Break open the tomb.
Where I have buried my sense of humanity: Break open the tomb.
Where I have buried my love for my Heavenly Father: Break open the tomb.
Where I have buried my sense of joy: Break open the tomb.
Where I have buried my willingness to forgive: Break open the tomb.
On this Easter let us break open our graves and emerge as new creations.
Happy Easter
No comments:
Post a Comment