Brief synopsis of the readings: We have a choice of readings for Easter, and as is my custom I’ve chosen the readings for Easter Mass during the day. Normally we find our first reading from the Old Testament, but during Easter we’ll read from the New Testament book “Acts of the Apostles.” Here Peter recounted the ministry, arrest, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. He explained that many of Jesus’ followers shared a meal with Jesus and how Jesus tasked them with spreading the word of forgiveness of sins. John’s Gospel recounted Mary Magdalene coming to Jesus’ tomb before dawn and finding the stone rolled away showing an empty tomb. Thinking someone had stolen Jesus’ body she found Peter and John; she told them what she saw. Peter and John raced to the tomb and saw the same thing. Only then did they understand what had happened.
Happy Easter! Though we celebrate this every year it’s worth noting that this without this event we would have no identity as Christians. At the time of Jesus (and frankly countless times since then) we’ve seen people who have claimed to be the Redeemer and with the exception of Jesus, none of them rose from the dead. Had Jesus not risen from the dead he would be just another fraud.
As I hinted at in the synopsis we find an odd juxtaposition in the Easter readings. These are all educated guesses but we think Jesus rose from the dead around the year 33 and the events of Acts took place immediately after. But the Book of Acts was probably written around the year 70 and John likely wrote his Gospel 20 years later. In any case, the events in John happened before the events in Acts.
All four Gospels describe the Resurrection and I’ve always been struck by how little really happens. We collect Nativity sets by the dozens but we really don’t build commemorations of the Resurrection. When Mary Magdalene visited Jesus’ grave she expected nothing more than more grief. She followed him, she believed in him, and by some accounts she loved him. But all she expected to do was honor his grave.
And instead of finding his grave she found, well, nothing. She had the reaction I would have had: what kind of cruelty is this? Isn’t it enough that they killed him? Did they really need to steal and possibly desecrate his body?
Our reading ends with her finding Peter and John (the disciple Jesus loved) who ran to the tomb and it gives a vague idea that they understood. But if we read further in John, while Peter and John left, Mary stayed. While there Jesus revealed himself to her in a way that she fully understood what happened, that Jesus did indeed die, but is now back to life in a whole new way.
This past week, on Passion Sunday and Good Friday, we’ve read about Jesus’ passion and death. And let’s face it: his male disciples did not come off well. They slept while Jesus prayed, Judas betrayed him, Peter denied him, and they all abandoned him. Yet, shortly after, we see Peter in our first reading doing better than anyone expected.
I like to think that this speaks to a higher truth for us. If we look at our relationship with God we consistently find ourselves receiving more than we ask for. Abraham asked for a child and was given as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. Moses asked for liberation from Pharaoh and was given the Promised Land. Jesus’ disciples asked for liberation from Rome and were given eternal life. Let’s face it: it pays to follow God.
While we’re on the subject, let’s think about our life without eternal life.
Death is goodbye. We all mourn loved ones who have died and we look forward to seeing them again. As someone whose hobbies include genealogy I have a long list. I can’t imagine never seeing them again. And frankly, as a retired hospice chaplain, I look forward to getting a good report.
Suffering has no redemption. In this life we learn from suffering (particularly of our own doing) and make better decisions in the future. But as believers we can see that our suffering can show others that we can sacrifice for the good of others. Think about martyrs and others whose sacrifices did nothing for themselves but benefited others. Martin Luther King’s murder provided additional fuel for civil rights.
Healing becomes transformative. Like suffering we all experience healing. When we recover from illness, when we reconcile with another person and when we change our behavior from a destructive habit we all live better. But hospice gave me countless experiences of witnessing deathbed reconciliations that dramatically eased the fear of death. As Jesus promised: “Whatever you declare loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Pleased understand, I’m not claiming that belief in the Resurrection of Jesus provides the only path to a fulfilled life. We know that Albert Einstein identified as an agnostic (he didn’t feel he had enough evidence to positively deny God’s existence) and had a life fulfilled not only with study but also teaching. His students followed him because he made their lives transformative. Not everybody who does not celebrate Easter is condemned to an empty life. Likewise not all who claim belief live well: Vladimir Putin identifies as Russian Orthodox.
But if we look back on the readings we can look at the end of the Gospels wondering if anyone “got it.” If we stopped reading at the end of the Gospels we can wonder if Jesus’ disciples ever amounted to anything.
But our first reading from Acts gives us a dramatically different view. Clearly Peter rose to the head of the early church, and Catholics see him as the first Pope. His articulation in Acts lays the foundation not only of the first generation of Christians, but ours also.
In the next several weeks we’ll read more about Peter and his early followers. They were far from perfect and they had their share of stumbles but they laid the foundation of who we are today.
Happy Easter.