Easter

Easter
April 16, 2006

"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD" (Psalm 118) "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Col 3: 1-4) "For they did not yet understand... that he had to rise from the dead." (John 20:1-9).

The gospel describes the elation and confusion of that morning of the "first day of the week" when Jesus' friends find that he has disappeared from the tomb in which his lifeless body had been laid. Mary Magdalene, going to anoint the body, sees the open tomb and thinks that someone has taken it away. She runs to Peter and "the other disciple" (John?) with the news and they have a foot race to the tomb to see for themselves. The "other disciple" gets there first (as if this made a big difference to anyone but him) but allows Peter to actually go inside to investigate. They find nothing but the burial cloth. Just as they do not understand why Jesus had to suffer such a terrible and shameful death, neither do they understand the significance of what they are seeing now.

We know from the history of the next several centuries, indeed down to our own time, that these events caused considerable discussion, conflict, mutual condemnation, even violence, among those who hear this story and take it seriously. What does it mean? What "really" happened? Was it just a hoax perpetrated to cover up the fact that Jesus simply was another victim hopelessly lost to power politics? Was it, as the recently discovered "Gospel of Judas" maintains, that Jesus' body was only an illusion or useless burden dragging down his spirit (and presumably our own as well)?

The resurrection story is far more than a proof that "Jesus was God". Our faith is with Psalm 118 and St. Paul. "I shall not die, but live." Christ is the central figure of cosmic history. What "really happened" is no secret reserved for a few spiritual elite. No special knowledge is required. Jesus' body was not stolen from the tomb nor was it just a shell disguising his divinity. He is the son of God, and a human being just like us, transformed from death to life in an unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This transformation makes ours possible. Like Christ, our lives and eternal destiny are permanently established within God's life, beyond all proof and out of the reach of destruction by any power on earth The "evidence" is in the way we, body and soul, live every day, in Christ, hídden in God.

During this sacred season of new life, we might do well to think about how we are privileged to participate in this resurrection event. All of us have our own passion story from which we long to be delivered. What happy ending can we imagine, beyond the difficulties and disappointments of this life?