HOLY EASTER

Some of you have lost loved ones, indeed parents, brothers, or sisters, and even children.

We can then imagine the disciples utter horror of seeing Jesus arrested, scourged, crowned with thorns, stripped of his garments and dignity, and then to be crucified.

When Jesus was crucified he was harshly treated and, as the scripture reads, “…so marred was his look beyond that of resembling a human being; he was pierced for our offenses…like a lamb led to the slaughter…and who would have thought any more of his destiny?”

Dead men don’t rise. The Romans had death down to an art. They knew how to kill people. Crucifixion was the most dishonorable death imaginable. Crucifixion was typically carried out by a team of five men: a chief centurion and four soldiers. The victim was usually stripped naked and the soldiers would gamble for the condemned man’s garments.

Crucifixion was considered a most shameful and degrading way to die. The Jewish historian Josephus writes that the Roman soldiers would amuse themselves by crucifying criminals in different positions as they tormented the condemned.

The goal of Roman crucifixion was not simply to kill the criminal, but also to mutilate and dishonor the body of the condemned. In the ancient world, an honorable death required a proper burial.

So now you can understand why the Resurrection of Jesus was so unexpected. He was dead. Very dead. His Mother Mary, Saint John, and St. Mary Magdalene were at the foot of the cross when he died. It wasn’t a pretty sight. And yet now the disciples were witnessing the risen Christ Jesus in their midst. It just didn’t add up.


And today we hear about Mary Magdalene weeping at the tomb. What a saint! Faithful to the end while the other disciples – except John – ran for cover.

She was weeping because she thought Jesus' body had been removed. Mary has not yet imagined the possibility of the resurrection. She assumed that Jesus' body had been stolen. This shows that resurrection faith did not come easily to Mary or Peter or the other disciples.

Their reaction both to Jesus' death and to the empty tomb was despair. Even when she saw Jesus she did not recognize him. She was not expecting to see him alive. What is clouding our eyes from recognizing Christ in our midst?

In Mary’s case her tears were no doubt blurring her vision. Have you ever cried so much that you can’t see straight? Mary was in that state. Her Lord was missing!
Even when we don't recognize or see Jesus, our lives can be changed. When Jesus called Mary by name she recognized him.

The early church turned the world upside down because they were overjoyed by the resurrection. They believed because they experienced the Risen Lord.

The resurrection is not just a matter of formal doctrine or church teaching that you have to believe in to be a good Christian. It is what makes us Christians. We don’t believe in the resurrection because it’s in the gospels; we believe in the gospels because of the Resurrection of Christ!

There are many people who call themselves Christian yet they merely go through the motions. Others have been honest enough to admit that they no longer believe.

But let’s examine the details again before we ignore the empty tomb.

If the Resurrection of Jesus was just a story made up by the early church, then why did so many of the members of the church endure horrible martyrdoms for a lie?

And if the church members were telling a lie, then they certainly wouldn’t have had written that women were the first witnesses to the Resurrection! In all the gospel accounts the women were the first to witness the resurrected Christ.

Furthermore, why would hundreds of followers who had scattered in fear and trembling after Jesus’ torturous death begin to boldly confess and profess their faith in a Risen Jesus and call Him Lord and Savior, risking all their worldly possessions as well as their very lives?

Many early Christians willingly accepted death rather than deny their faith in Jesus Christ!

Can you say Simon–Peter? What gave this scaredy-cat, sword-bearing, rooster-fearing fisherman the guts to stand up in front of thousands and proclaim the Kingdom of Christ?! Luke tells us it was the Holy Spirit and as a result 3000 people were baptized on the day of Pentecost – 50 days after Easter!

Jesus is as controversial today as He was when He walked the earth. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome. I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and your souls will find rest, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt 11 28-30). With such a statement, then either Jesus was an egomaniac or God in the flesh. As for those who claim Jesus was merely a good moral teacher or only a social reformer, His own words betray Him. He did not come simply to teach. He came to save that which was lost.

Just think about it: A carpenter from nowhere Nazareth becomes a Jewish rabbi and preacher – then gets in trouble with the Romans – nothing new there – and he is crucified. So what? Sometimes hundreds were crucified under Roman rule. Why should one more cross be any different than the rest? Yet the story goes out that this Nazarene has resurrected bodily from his tomb three days after his burial. And this good news turned an empire upside down and eventually the Emperor Constantine would accept baptism and outlaw crucifixion and legalize Christianity. That in itself is astounding! Some would say that this is further evidence that he is indeed Risen from the dead.


Jesus' command to Mary Magdalene teaches us that the resurrection is not simply the end of sorrow and separation but the beginning of ministry. She is to go to the disciples and proclaim the resurrection to them. Mary is the Apostle to the Apostles, for the word apostle means: “one who is sent.”

Mary is told not to cling to Jesus because the Risen Lord is not a possession for us to grasp only for ourselves, but a message, a person, to be shared with the world.
Neither is His Resurrection something nice or just for us to recall once a year along with the Easter bunny so we can think happy thoughts as we eat dyed and boiled eggs, munch on those godforsaken yellow marshmallow peeps, and bite off the heads of chocolate rabbits.

No, Jesus’ Resurrection is much more than an Easter basket full of sugar and plastic eggs. Jesus is the real deal. All that He has, he shares with us: His Father, His mother, His Holy Spirit, His body & blood, soul, and divinity, and even His risen life. And we can begin to share in this Life now, experiencing his life in our souls and bodies. We have access to it in many ways, but especially in the Word of God and in the Eucharist.

So, if the tomb is empty, everything is changed. Today has to be different from last Friday. Either he is raised from the dead or his tattered corpse rotted away on some Palestinian dung heap where it was pecked at by vultures and wolves.

We must be willing to show people the way of justice even if this means we risk losing friends and so-called friends, even if it means we may be labeled out of touch with modernity or opposing what is popular or expedient or politically correct.

Standing up for what is true and right will often cost us something – it may even cost us our lives – yet we know that death does not have the final word.

We know that even the worst suffering imaginable can bring forth life in abundance! Our response to our own crucifixions and deaths is to have a deepened trust in God; for just as Christ was raised by the glory of the Father, so too will we be raised to new life on the resurrection of the Last Day.

So, if the tomb is empty, everything is changed. Either He has been raised from the dead and everything he taught is true, or else we have duped by one of the most elaborate hoaxes ever to deceive humanity! There really is no middle way. Either Jesus is who He claimed to be, namely the Lord, or else he was a liar or a lunatic.
The tomb was empty, that was for certain. But how was it emptied?

Our faith tells us that He is Risen. Jesus’ first command to us in the gospel of John was: “Come and see.”

May we have the courage to follow him so that we might truly believe that He is our Lord.