Again, allow me to wish all of you a joyous Easter with a hopeful message for all of us believers. Christ is risen! Alleluia! These are the victorious words we shout with gusto on this greatest of all feast days. This is a celebration of moving from doubt to belief, from fear to faith, from death to life. Our readings present the strong faith that the earliest followers of Jesus expressed as they spread the Good News of our salvation in the risen Lord. In today’s first reading, we hear St. Peter, our first pope, give a thumbnail sketch of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection with great confidence. In our second reading, we hear St. Paul declare with similar confidence that “when Christ appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” But, it was not always so clear for these first followers of our Lord and today’s gospel gives us a glimpse of how they moved from doubt to belief, from fear to faith. Their journey encourages us today.
The gospel reading begins by describing everyone running about frantically. Mary of Magdala, from whom Jesus had expelled seven demons, goes to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She sees that the stone covering the entrance to the tomb had been removed so she runs to Peter who then, joined by John, runs to the tomb. Though Mary Magdalene had seen direct evidence of the Resurrection, she presumes the worst: grave robbers have snatched her beloved Jesus’ body. At first, she can’t bring to mind what Jesus had told her and all of his followers: that he would rise on the third day. She is in reaction mode instead of reflection mode. How often don’t we find ourselves in reaction mode? Rather than reflecting on our Lord’s assurance that he is always with us we react and panic, thinking we are all alone. Isaiah the prophet assures us that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary.” That may explain why, when Peter and John ran to the tomb, John ran faster as he began to move from reaction to reflection, remembering what Jesus had said and becoming energized by hope.
Our gospel this morning relates that when Simon Peter arrived after John, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. The original Greek text uses a word that indicates that the burial cloths had simply deflated in place, as the body they covered disappeared. And the most expensive cloth, the cloth that covered his head, lies neatly rolled up in a separate place. Grave robbers would not leave valuable linens behind neatly in an orderly way; they snatch things and leave everything in disarray in their haste.
John is reflecting on what he sees before him and recognizes the clear evidence. It’s not robbers; no, it’s the Resurrection! As we hear in today’s gospel passage, John saw and believed.
Of course, the reading goes on to add: “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” It is as if to say that John came to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead but had not yet come to fully make all of the connections of how this had to be. John had gone from doubt to belief and from fear to faith. Let the same happen to us as we reflect on this wondrous truth: God has raised his son from the dead and, in doing so, has given us all a hope in the new life he offers us.
St. John leaves this scene as a believer. His faith is not yet perfected faith; that will come in the upcoming days as he – and the rest of the disciples – encounter the risen Lord and he takes the time to reflect even more deeply, assured that the Lord would always be with him. But, he does believe.
And the wondrous ending to the Easter story is what all four of the Gospels and St. Paul tell us repeatedly: Jesus is not only alive, but he is still here, still present, still among us. Only now he is with us in a whole new way. That’s what the really good news is for each of us: we are not alone. The Spirit Jesus promised us is alive in the scriptures we read; alive in the Eucharist we celebrate; alive in the Body and Blood that he has given to nourish us; alive in the hungry whom we feed; alive in the truth that we proclaim to a world ensnared in lies.
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him,” Mary of Magdala sadly exclaims in today’s Gospel. The ecstasy of this day is that we now know exactly “where they have put him”: inside each one of us – in our hearts. And our joy compels us to reach out to everyone we meet with the gospel message of the light of Christ to a world that lives in confusing darkness.
That’s why now we can truly sing together with full joy:
Christ is risen! Alleluia! Happy Easter!