Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had
arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed (Jn 20:8)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
We know that the mystery of our redemption did not end with the brutal crucifixion of Jesus on a lonely hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem and his burial in a rock-hewn tomb. On the third day, to the astonishment of his disciples and friends, Jesus rose from the dead.
To our modern, “enlightened” ears, of course, this sounds preposterous. It seemed so to his disciples, too, who were expecting no such thing. Yet his closest friends and early followers insisted that not only was the tomb inexplicably empty, but that on multiple occasions Jesus appeared bodily to them and many others. The early Christian community believed and professed that Jesus died and that he was alive again—not resuscitated in the body of his earthly life—but alive in a new, glorious body.
The resurrection cannot be understood symbolically or as a kind of physical metaphor for a deeper spiritual truth. It wasn’t an apparition, hallucination or some kind of subjective “faith” experience that later became encrusted with fanciful details of a physically risen Jesus, retroactively applied to the disciples by the early Church. It wasn’t a pious myth concocted by his disciples, who could not deal with the reality of Jesus’ death, since this could easily have been disproved by their contemporaries. There is no satisfactory explanation for this belief in Jesus’ transformed, bodily resurrection other than that it was a real event that actually occurred.
That is why Jesus’ disciples were willing to die for it. That is why we profess it two thousand years later. But do we believe it? We have professed this in the Creed for so long, that it sometimes flows from our lips in an almost rote way, one line among many. We perhaps fail to fully appreciate how momentous the resurrection was and is and how pivotal it is to our faith. The Good News is not simply that Jesus was born as one of us, that he taught with authority, that he cured the sick, that he called us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves, or that he died in atonement for our sins. All of this is true, and awesome to contemplate, but is incomplete unless Jesus really and truly rose from the dead. As Saint Paul tells us, “If Jesus has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (1 Cor 15:14) Jesus’ resurrection was a dramatic vindication of all that he preached and claimed to be.
Our faith in God’s power and in Jesus’ divinity, our assurance of being freed from the bondage of sin and death, our hope in our own resurrection and that of our sisters and brothers, our participation in the divine life (initiated through baptism), all rest on this transforming event. The wonder of Jesus’ resurrection can never be exhausted for it is both a historical and transcendent event. It is not confined to first century Jerusalem, but has transformed creation and the course of human history every day since.
Jesus’ glorious victory over sin and death—and our own redemption through his suffering, death and resurrection—is, of course, cause for great joy and celebration. But if we truly believe what we profess about the resurrection, then we cannot continue to live as though it never occurred. Rather, we are challenged to examine our lives, to make a radical break with sin and to live for God.
During the Easter Vigil, the epistle to the Romans, in speaking of our participation in the paschal mystery through baptism, reminds us: If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:8-11)
That is why the ugliness of sin is so jarring. In our own day we see so many injustices, against the unborn, the vulnerable, the immigrant, the poor, the sick and those who do not have access to healthcare; we see the exploitation of women and youth, rising crime and violence, addictions and drug abuse, acts of terrorism and war. And yet, we do not give in to discouragement or fear. We recall the words of Jesus to the women at the tomb, “Do not be afraid.”