From Despair to Hope: Easter's Promise
Homily for Easter Sunday
Acts 10:34a.37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9
This morning, in order to realise the immensity of the Resurrection, we can start by putting ourselves in the place the disciples of Jesus following his crucifixion and death. What a tumultuous and emotionally draining few days that first Easter weekend would have been! The first Holy Saturday must have been the saddest of days for them. They must have felt empty, dead inside, without hope. They didn’t know who they were anymore. The loss of Jesus must have been excruciatingly painful. To make matters worse, most of them had deserted him in the hour of his greatest suffering.
Today’s Gospel passage opens with Mary of Magdala going to the tomb on early on the first Easter morning, to anoint the body of Jesus. She was filled with love for Jesus and wanted to give him a proper burial, but she was, nonetheless without hope. With Jesus’s death she was crushed. Imagine what was in her heart and mind as she approached the tomb.
Perhaps she was thinking about how hard it would be to see him again, to look at that expressionless face she had known so well, to anoint the cold body of the one who had meant everything to her. She would have felt that there was no future for her. Now that Jesus was dead, everything was over. It was now meaningless to be his follower.
This sense of loss is something we all can identify with. Often, we feel lost and directionless. We get confused and the disappointments and burdens of life weigh heavy on us. Also, we all have lost loved ones. We have all experienced loss and suffering at some time or another.
What was true for Mary Magdalene, was true for Peter and John, whom she ran to call when she found the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. They all ran to the tomb in disbelief and shock. In the middle of their doubt, in the middle of their sorrow, in the middle of their hopelessness, Easter happens. They found that the stone was indeed rolled back. They had hurried to the tomb, fearing the worst, but the tomb was filled with light instead of darkness. Notice the meticulous recording of the details of the linen cloths, and the napkin which had covered the head of Jesus.
This morning, we enter into the experience of Mary Magdalene and Simon Peter and John at the empty tomb. We bring all our loss and disappointment, suffering and hopelessness to be transformed by the Resurrection of Jesus. They were astonished, shocked, surprized, daring to hope. We can enter into this amazement as we experience new life and hope in the Resurrection of Jesus. So much in our lives may seem so final, so beyond hope, so full of darkness, but the Resurrection of Jesus gives us the assurance that there is an empty tomb ahead, and it is filled with light.
The passionate preaching of St Peter to Cornelius and his household, in the first reading, gives the essential Christian Gospel message that Jesus was killed by being hung on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen. Peter says that he is among those who ate and drank with Jesus after his resurrection from the dead. The outcome of all this, Peter says, is that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven.
The Resurrection of Jesus is not just some historical event two thousand years ago. The Resurrection of Jesus echoes through all time, and into our lives. Today, we participate in the Resurrection again. The Resurrection of Jesus confirms our belief in him as the Son of God. Because Jesus rose from death, Christianity is the fullness of God’s revelation, and Jesus must be the absolute centre of our lives.
St Paul says to the Colossians and us, in the second reading for this Mass, that since we have been brought back to true life with Christ, we must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is. Our primary focus must be on heavenly things, not earthly things, because we share in the risen life of Jesus. Our true life is hidden with Christ in God.
The great lesson and significance of the resurrection is that the path of salvation has been opened to everyone. Even though we may at times feel far away from the Father, all the way to feeling utterly alone and perhaps that God has given up on us, even despite all of this, we are embraced by the arms of the Son of God. By his death and resurrection, the divine life is opened to all and allows everyone access to the divine mercy. This is why Jesus himself said, “When the Son of Man is lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.”
In his first letter to the Corinthians, St Paul tells us, “... if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain ... But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man (1 Cor 15:14, 20, 21).
Therefore, we don’t have to live as though death were our master. We don’t have to live in angst and fear, anxious about what this life and the forces of darkness might throw up against us. After he had encountered the risen Christ, Paul could even mock death, saying: “Death, where is your victory, Death where is your sting?”
Who and where, are you and I, at this time, this Easter? What parts of our lives need resurrection? What parts of our lives need the new life? In what areas are we tempted to despair? What areas of our lives need the hope and joy of the risen Christ?
Allow the resurrection light to enter you today. Because Christ has been raised, we are called to complete and utter transformation, to become new creatures, a people of hope and joy. We who celebrate the Resurrection today claim that if Jesus is risen, then he is alive, he is present with us, and we have the possibility of experiencing him here and now.
In the words of Pope Francis, “Let the risen Jesus enter your life. Trust him, go to him. He welcomes you with open arms. Let him dispel the doubt and fear from your lives.” May resurrection light banish the darkness, sin and gloom from our lives. May the Risen Christ enter our lives and our reality. Today, here and now, we welcome the Risen Christ into our hearts.
This Easter Sunday let’s allow ourselves to be surprised again by the shocking message of resurrection. Let’s be filled with the hope and joy of the risen Christ. Let us allow it to unnerve us, change us, set us on fire.
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