Homily for Easter Sunday
Easter changes everything. To feel the immensity of that change, put yourself in the place of the disciples of Jesus following his crucifixion and death. What a tumultuous and emotionally draining few days that first Easter weekend would have been! The first Holy Saturday must have been the saddest of days for those first disciples of Jesus. They must have felt empty, dead inside, without hope. They didn't know who they were anymore. The loss of Jesus must have been immensely painful. To make matters worse, most of them had deserted him in the hour of his greatest suffering.
Today's Gospel passage opens with Mary of Magdala going to the tomb early on the first Easter morning, to anoint the body of Jesus. She was filled with love for Jesus and wanted to give him a proper burial, but she was nonetheless without hope. With Jesus's death she was crushed. Imagine what was in her heart and mind as she approached the tomb.
This sense of loss is something we all can identify with. Often, we feel lost and directionless. We get confused and the disappointments and burdens of life weigh heavy on us. We have all experienced loss and suffering at some time or another. The situation in our world today is itself enough to cause despair.
From Despair to Discovery
What was true for Mary was true for Peter and John, whom she ran to call when she found the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. They all ran to the tomb in disbelief and shock. In the middle of their doubt, in the middle of their sorrow, in the middle of their hopelessness, Easter happens. They found that the stone was indeed rolled away. Notice the meticulous recording of the details of the linen cloths, and the napkin which had covered the head of Jesus. John went into the tomb, and he saw and believed. What do we dare to hope that would cause us to run to the tomb?
This morning we enter the experience of Mary and Simon Peter and John at the empty tomb. We bring all our loss and disappointment, suffering and hopelessness to be transformed by the Resurrection of Jesus. They were astonished, shocked, surprised, daring to hope. We can enter this amazement as we experience new life and hope in the Risen Lord. When we are tempted to think that our lives and situations are beyond hope, and when we experience darkness and doubt, the Resurrection of Jesus gives us the assurance that there is an empty tomb ahead.
The disciples themselves would soon after become missionaries of this Resurrection truth. In the first reading, Peter, preaching to Cornelius, gives the essential Christian Gospel message that Jesus was killed by being hung on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen. Peter tells them that he himself ate and drank with Jesus after the resurrection, and that all who believe in him will have their sins forgiven.
Living the Resurrection Today
The Resurrection of Jesus is not just some historical event two thousand years ago. It echoes through all time, and into our lives. Today, we participate in the Resurrection again. The Resurrection of Jesus confirms our belief in him as the Son of God. In Jesus risen from the dead, God has said his final and fullest word to us, and Jesus must be the absolute centre of our lives.
St Paul says to the Colossians and us, in the second reading for this Mass, that since we have been brought back to true life with Christ, we must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is. Our primary focus must be on heavenly things, not earthly things, because we share in the risen life of Jesus. Our true life is hidden with Christ in God.
The great lesson and significance of the resurrection is that the path of salvation has been opened to everyone. Even though we may at times feel far away from the Father, all the way to feeling utterly alone, even that God has given up on us; despite all of this, we are embraced by the arms of the risen Jesus. This is why Jesus himself said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself."
In his first letter to the Corinthians, St Paul tells us, "... if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain ... But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man (1 Cor 15:14, 20, 21).
Therefore, we don't have to live as though death were our master. We don't have to live in angst and fear, anxious about what this life and the forces of darkness might throw up against us. After he had encountered the risen Christ, Paul could even mock death, saying: "Death, where is your victory, Death where is your sting?"
Where are you, this Easter? What parts of our lives need resurrection and new life? Allow resurrection light to enter you today. Because Christ has been raised, we are called to complete transformation, to become new creatures, a people of hope. We who celebrate the Resurrection today claim that if Jesus is risen, then he is alive, he is present with us, and we have the possibility of experiencing him here and now.
As Pope Francis once said at Easter, "Let the risen Jesus enter your life. Trust him, go to him. He welcomes you with open arms. Let him dispel the doubt and fear from your lives." This Easter Sunday, let the staggering truth of the Resurrection unnerve us, change us, and set us on fire.
