Acts 10:34, 37-43 + Psalm 118 + Colossians 3:1-4 + John 20:1-9
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Delivered at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang, Oklahoma
The joyous hymns of praise that we sing on this Easter Day are not found in this Gospel account of the Resurrection. There is no rejoicing on the part of Mary Magdalene, nor Peter and the beloved disciple. Rather the images are rather somber ones: of lingering darkness, of the absence of the Lord—even of his dead body, and of a struggle to understand what “rise from the dead” means.
That struggle will mark not only the day of the Resurrection, but will be a struggle the first followers of the Lord will undergo for many days following. What does it mean for Jesus to have risen from the dead? How to understand this mystery which confounds and baffles them?
The story of those first disciples struggling to understand what the resurrection means is our story, too. In fact, we find ourselves in this Gospel account from John….
Often darkness seems to mark our days. How often do we stumble in the darkness of life, especially when tragedy or loss cloud our spirits? There are times when darkness lingers, when we feel like we cannot find our way because of sorrow or heartache or chronic pain or bitter separation from one we formerly loved or who loved us. We wonder, “When will the light of a new day come?”
In these times we are like Mary Magdalene not finding the body of Jesus at the tomb. Because of darkness, because we often walk in darkness, we do not know where Jesus is. We feel like he is dead and gone, nowhere to be found.
This searching for Jesus, this wondering why it feels like he has abandoned us,
comes from our struggle to understand what rising from the dead means. Although we may believe in him, although we may make the effort every day to give our lives over to him, we struggle to understand what rising from the dead means.
We know so much about death—the death of relationships, the death of our youth, the loss of a job or our health or a loved one. But rising from the dead?
We tend to think that is for after this lifetime, somewhere in the distant future, hazy and unseen.
However, if we consider rising from the dead in terms of the paschal mystery of Christ, which the Church has celebrated in a very special way these past three days, then we might catch a glimpse of what risen life looks like. As a priest friend of mine explains, we believers focus on “life through death,” not life after death. Christ teaches Peter and Mary Magdalene, the Beloved Disciple and you and me this truth: the way to risen life is “life through death.”
So, we who are followers of the Crucified and Risen Christ find life through death, through letting go, through surrendering our lives into the hands of the Risen One, hands that have pierced by being nailed to a tree.
As we do, we slowly remember that the Risen Lord is also the Crucified Lord, and that he lives in the broken, suffering ones of this earth—those whose lives have been pierced by suffering and sadness and sorrow.
He lives in the millions of refugees fleeing the war raging in Syria and beyond. He lives in those suffering from the effects of famine and violence in Africa. The Risen Lord lives crucified in the refugees who make the dangerous journey here from Mexico and other countries to our south, not because they want to leave their homes, but because drug gang violence has taken the lives of their loved ones.
The Risen Jesus presents himself in those who are suffering from physical illness, or confined to nursing homes or to their own homes. The Risen Lord is lives in the least of our brothers and sisters, who hunger for what we take for granted: Food on the table or a roof over our heads.
The Risen Lord shows himself still with the wounds of his cross in the brokenness of our brothers and sisters who reveal he is still being crucified, and yet still living, in them.
The Risen Lord also shows himself in those who break open their lives in generous love of others. There is nothing snappy or showy about such love
revealing the Risen Lord at work, simply a love that transforms the lives of others.
Like a parent caring for a troubled child or in those who adopt or foster a child,
or spouses who are faithful and true through thick and thin over the years. The Risen Lord can be found at work in adult children caring for their own children,
and at the same time parenting their aging parents. He lives in single parents balancing the challenges of raising children with the demands of work, never having much time for themselves. The Risen Lord is present in the lives of single people who generously love others while searching for meaning in their life without a significant other.
The Risen Jesus can be found in the worker who does his or her job faithfully over the years, never stealing from his or her employer, or cheating his or her boss.
The Lord of life reveals himself in soldiers who go to far off lands to protect the innocent from acts of terror, in police officers and firemen and firewomen who place their lives daily on the line for others, and in humanitarian workers who go to the most dangerous parts of this earth to help others.
The key to resurrection faith is belief, not understanding. We will never completely understand how God works or how the Risen Jesus is present today.
But, with the Beloved Disciple, we can believe, which in its root meaning means:
“To give our hearts to”. We can daily give our heart, our very lives to the Risen One, knowing that we, too, are the beloved disciple of the One who never abandons us.
By eating and drinking with the Risen Lord at this holy table, we become His witnesses: Witnesses to the world that he is alive, he is Risen. For he is rising up in us by the power of his love.
So that when faced with despair, we can be people of hope. Confronted with the darkness of violence, makers of peace, and respond to hatred with self-giving love.
As we do, the Risen Lord rises up in us.
Fr. Joseph A. Jacobi
