The Resurrection of Our Lord

Easter Sunday, 2018

Acts 10:34,37-43; Ps 118; Col. 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

Today we are celebrating the apex of the liturgical calendar: The Resurrection of the Lord is the be-all and end-all of our Christian faith. It really comes down to this: if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then Christianity is a fraud and a joke; if so, St. Paul reminds us that we would be the most foolish and pitiable of human beings. But, if he did rise from death, then Christianity is the fullness of God’s revelation, and that Jesus should be the absolute center of our lives because he is God among his people. There is no third option.

Moreover, we are not just remembering an historical event, but we are celebrating that the resurrected Jesus is forever with us. Jesus was not one and done in dying to redeem us, but desires to be an active part of our lives. Just look at what his Death and Resurrection has accomplished. By his death, Jesus absorbed our sin, died to it, and, in so doing liberated us from its destructive power. By his glorious Resurrection, Jesus opened to us a New Life, which is eternally grounded in the Triune God, who is Life itself. The Resurrection is the basis of our hope and, indeed, pushes us beyond the threshold of hope in which we will enjoy and participate in the Beatific Vision.

As we assemble here in this Easter liturgy, we are also proclaiming by our witness that the Cross was not the end, but a beginning: we are able to see in the final act of Jesus’ earthly existence a positive sign of hope. Why?   Because now we can draw the Crucifixion into the Resurrection; we can connect the two events. Jesus’ final journey into death tells us that love is victorious and that the risk of living a life of love is worth taking.

What do we have to justify this hope? The Empty Tomb. Let’s look at the Gospel account. Peter and John come running to the tomb after hearing that perhaps Jesus has risen. John, the Beloved Disciple, the human symbol of love, arrived there first. Peter, the leader of the community and our first pope, who is perhaps older than John, gets there later. John waits out of deference to Peter, the rock of the Church, and allows him to enter the tomb first. At first, they are only aware of is the empty tomb. That in itself is not proof of Resurrection.   The proof for them, as it will be for us, is their experience of the Risen Christ-the Jesus who lives.

            This is the key, brothers and sisters. Risen life is so much more than a happy ending to a tragic story. The greatest news is that Jesus is still alive! The tomb is still empty! He continues to live in our day every day; he continues to dwell within and among us.

Experiencing Jesus is, I believe, the only way we can know that Jesus is Risen, that He is Lord.  We can know him within the secret interior room of our soul, when we unite with him in prayer. Through prayer we enter into his very Being and we become transformed, little by little by that encounter and engagement. We experience Jesus within the Church assembly, as we see Jesus at work among the Communion of Saints here on earth. I’m not just talking about the public saints such as St. Mother Theresa of Kolkata, St. John Paul II, Pope John XXIII, but saints here at St. John the Baptist C.C. who lovingly serve as conduits to God’s grace brought about by the Resurrection of Christ. When we witness how Jesus is at work within his Church, his mystical Body, we enthusiastically witness that Jesus is Risen! When Jesus reassures us that “When two or more people gather in my name, I am there with them,” we respond with a joyful AMEN!

We also experience the Risen Christ sacramentally. While Jesus is available in them, he is Really Present in the Eucharist. When we receive our Lord in Communion, we consume his Body and Blood; in so doing, we receive his soul and divinity, which is transformative, provided we are fully, actively, and consciously participating in the Mass. Being fed by the Resurrected Christ, we then become Bread of Life to the world as we gratefully share what we have received in such abundance.

So, People of God at St. John the Baptist, as we “move, live, and have our being in the Resurrected Christ,” strive to live like Jesus, we become living icons to the world that Jesus Christ is Risen! As James reminds us in his Epistle, we must be more than hearers of the Good News of the Resurrection, but we must be doers. We are brothers and sisters of the Risen Christ, who is drawing all of humanity, all of Creation unto Himself. Let us act in every aspect of our lives that we know that Jesus Christ is Risen and is with us forever. Amen!