Happy Easter!
Happy Easter! On Sunday, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead! We celebrate that the One who suffered and died for us has risen, just as he promised his disciples!
In fact, that is what an angel says to the women who came to visit Jesus’ tomb. In our Gospel reading for the Easter vigil (Matthew 28:1-10), an angel has rolled the stone away from Jesus’ tomb, and is at the tomb when the women come. He says to them, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” Matthew tells us that the women left the tomb “fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples.”
I think I can understand why the women were “fearful yet overjoyed.” Maybe they were thinking,
“Could it possibly be? Could he really have risen from the dead?” Whatever might have been going on in their minds, they believed enough in what the angel told them to go and announce it to the disciples.
And their faith was vindicated when they themselves encountered the Risen Jesus, who again told them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee where they would see Him.
When we look at our world, or even at our lives, we may understand how the women were fearful, but we may not be able to join in their joy. Sometimes it’s hard to see Easter as real. But our faith tells us that Easter is real. Even our experience can tell us so.
Have you ever been lifted up? And it wasn’t you who did the lifting? Have you ever been in a situation that seemed hopeless, with no obvious solution, and yet, something or someone came into the picture and you got through the crisis or pain. You have experienced Easter!
But knowing Easter is real is not the end of the story. The women were told to go and tell the apostles. We are told to share this good news with others, not just by our verbal professions of faith, but by our lives. In the last reading from the Old Testament for the Easter Vigil (Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28)< God says through the prophet: Not for your sakes do I act, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you profaned among the nations…Thus the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord GOD, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you. For I will take you away from among the nations…and bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees…you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
This is what we hear from the New Testament reading (Romans 6:5-11): “We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.
To live for God in Christ Jesus is to let God remove our hardness of heart. As we have been lifted up, we need to help lift others up. We will not find the Risen Jesus in hate and fear or apathy. May we let God lift us up and cleanse from all idolatry. May we love one another in the hope of Resurrection.
I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks for your time.
In the Risen Christ,
Phil, C.P.
