Sunday 9th April 2023 - Easter Sunday

Acts 10:34,37-43/ Psalm 117(118)/ Colossians 3:1-4/ John 20:1-9

Following our preparation during Lent, we now celebrate the great feast of Easter. We have prayed the Stations of the Cross, walking with Jesus on his journey from false accusation to crucifixion, death, and burial, and we have received the sacrament of confession. Through the Easter Triduum services we have celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper after which we joined Jesus and watched with him in the garden of Gethsemane. On Friday we gathered in the afternoon and recalled the Passion and Death of Jesus and we venerated the cross which is the means by which Jesus won our salvation. On Saturday evening we celebrated the resurrection at the wonderful service of the Easter Vigil, the highpoint of our liturgical year. We continue that celebration today as we once again sing Alleluia, proclaim the Gloria, and brighten our churches with flowers. The Pascal Candle, lit with such ceremony at the vigil, is prominent now on the sanctuary reminding us of the light of the risen Christ that shines out to the world. It is this risen Christ that, as Christians, we cannot fail to proclaim to those around us.

We have the benefit of hindsight together with two thousand years of prayer and contemplation to bring us to an understanding of what happened during those few fateful days so long ago. As Peter and John ran to the tomb that first Easter Sunday morning their minds must have been in a spin. Jesus, their leader, and hope for the future, had just been arrested, tried, convicted, tortured, executed and buried. All their hopes and dreams had gone and now the women of their group were telling them that the body of Jesus was missing. Their first thoughts were not of resurrection but of who had taken the body, where it had been taken and why it had been taken. The confusion, fear and questioning must have been overwhelming as they approached the tomb. Being younger, John arrived before Peter, but he deferred to his authority and did not go in until Peter arrived and went straight into the tomb. What they saw there removed the doubt and confusion they had, we are told by John that he saw, and he believed. Until then they had failed to grasp what scripture and Jesus himself had told them. The empty tomb, the grave clothes abandoned and folded up, told them all they needed to know to put everything together and believe, to believe that Jesus, who had died on the dross, was now risen and alive.

Easter, the principal celebration of our faith, is a message of new life. Easter is a springtime celebration when life bursts from the cold death of winter and Jesus burst alive from the cold tomb of death. The Easter symbols of eggs, bright flowers and clothes reflect the new life through the resurrection of Jesus. We do not find Jesus dead in the tomb. The tomb is empty, the grave clothes discarded, Jesus is not among the dead but bursting with life so full that it overflows to all who believe. The life of Jesus ends not in defeat but victory, he was not destroyed by human ambition, political manoeuvring, or military power. God has the final word over all human activity. Jesus is the first born of the dead and as such leads us into eternal life with him.

The unnamed disciple running into the tomb is believed to be John but more importantly he represents each of us. From our baptism we develop a love for Jesus, which brings us to a belief that the empty tomb points to the risen Jesus. It is the starting point of our personal faith as well as the starting point for Christianity. We do not find Jesus among the dead but must look for him among the living. He is to be found in the poor, needy, sick, homeless, and displaced people all around us. He is also to be found in all his glory sitting at the right hand of God in heaven. Our thoughts should be on the things of heaven and not on earthly things. The heavenly is what we aspire to, an eternal life in Christ, not the earthly things that do not last, can cause pain and suffering to others, distracting us from our true existence.

Our faith in the risen Lord is summed up simply and beautifully in Peter’s address to the Roman Centurion Cornelius and his household in the second reading.

The Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Happy Easter.

Brendan.