Monday within Easter Octave, April 1
Acts 2:14, 22-33 / Matthew 28:8-15
Guards say Jesus' body was stolen; This story still circulates.
President Lincoln's coffin was opened twice. The first time was in 1887, twenty-two years after his assassination. Rumours began sweeping the country that the coffin did not contain Lincoln's body. The body was checked and verified to be that of Lincoln. The casket was resealed with lead. Fourteen years later, a new wave of rumours began to sweep the country. Again, the coffin was opened and shown to contain the body of Lincoln. This time the casket was not only resealed but also permanently embedded in a crypt in Springfield, Illinois. Similar rumours circulated about Jesus' body. The only difference was that Jesus' body was indeed missing. The rumours dealt with what happened to it.
***
It is an
astonishing fact and it has been so for the last two thousand years. For some -
Jesus is the meaning, content and fulfilment of their life; and for some - an
object of their aversion, enmity and hatred. Jesus was astonished about the
latter. For the women he was the cause of their joy, that attracted them to
Jesus to work for him and to be sent by him. Jesus rewarded their zeal. They
were allowed to see him, to fall at his feet, to adore him. Women love to give
news to others. He made himself the good news for them to pass on. The soldiers
went into the town, not to the officer who had assigned them their duty, not to
Pilate whose servants they were, but to the High Priests. Religion was their
business. They so foolish as to order them to say that while they slept,
disciples came and stole the body. No court has ever accepted sleeping
witnesses. Yet bribing can even produce that! Why? No one has ever had a valid
argument against Christ and the truth and grace he entrusted to his Church.
***
How do we
experience the Risen Christ in our daily lives? "Christ has made the dark
door of death into a shining gate of life." Anonymous
***
Peter had
refused to say that he knew Jesus. Now, he cannot stop proclaiming that Jesus
is risen. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, rush to tell the
apostles that Jesus is risen. The readings of today are all about witnessing to
the resurrection. Peter proclaims it as the key to his faith: Jesus who had
been killed is truly risen and we, his disciples, are witnesses to this fact
and this person. Mary Magdalene and her companion are told by the angels at the
tomb that Jesus is risen. Then, they themselves encountered him. The Risen
Jesus instructed them to convey this news to his other disciples. For now, they
too, are witnesses that Christ is alive. We are these witnesses today.
***
We are
fortunate today to listen to a sermon preached by the fisherman from Bethsaida,
Peter. How did he understand Christ now? Would he still tell Jesus: This shall
never happen to you, as he said when Jesus spoke the first time of his passion
at Caesarea Philippi? The sermons in the early Church were mainly on the Cross
and the Resurrection, repentance and baptism. The Cross "was the
deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God". "You killed
him". The Cross was no accident. God knew and had planned this sharing of
his love from all eternity: This is no excuse for those who did it. In his love
God gave his only son. Sin killed him. Sin can take the loveliest life and
destroy it. Yet God had the power to make good that crime and he did. He raised
Christ to life in the Resurrection. Peter quotes a psalm of David This psalm
was already before Jesus understood to apply to the Messiah. It finds its full
sense in the resurrection of Jesus, Peter very rightly says.
***
Truth has a
way of bringing out the stuff that people are made of. In the gospel, we see two groups of people
with different reactions to the empty tomb.
The women saw the empty tomb, saw the Truth, ie. the Risen Christ, and
then went off to proclaim the truth with joy in their hearts. The soldiers saw the empty tomb, went to
report to the chief priests and the elders, cooked up a lie and then lived on in
fear and in worry. Strange that the
second group of people who are supposed to be people of courage and bravery,
somehow succumbed to cowardice and deceit.
And it is surprising that the first group of people, the women, who were
powerless, discounted and devalued, were the ones who lived up to the truth
with courage. So as long as we have
something to lose, whether it is our social standing, our reputation, our
security, our investments, our pride, then we will have a difficulty with the
truth. But the Easter greeting of the
Risen Christ always assures us that He knows how we feel and He knows what we
need. The Risen Lord wants to calm our
hearts with these four words "Do not be afraid" so that we too can
proclaim the truth. The Truth, who is
the Risen Lord, will set us free. Let us not be afraid. Jesus will be with us
to conquer our fears.
***
Prayer: Our living
God, our heart is glad and rejoices and we feel secure in our faith, that we
have a living person to believe in, Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead. Let
him show us the path of life, let us live in the joy of his presence and give
us the grace to make us witnesses, so that we can proclaim with our whole life,
that Jesus is our risen, living Lord, now and for ever. Amen.
