Happy Easter!!! ALLELUIA!
Christ is
Risen! Death and sin are
defeated. God triumphs! Love and Life are ETERNAL. ALLELUIA!
The Gospel this evening
tells us: "the women came to the tomb bringing the spices they had
prepared." Why were they bringing spices to the
tomb? Well, to embalm the corpse. That is how they did it in those days. And so they go to the tomb looking for a dead
body. That is what they expected to
find. But their expectations are
disappointed. They don’t find any body.
We’ve all had that
experience of expecting one thing, but finding something else. Usually it is
because we expect too much, and are disappointed when our expectations don’t
turn out. But this time it was because
the women expected too little: way, way, way too little.
So they are
confused. All they see is an empty
space. The Gospel says: "they
were still at a loss what to think about this." So picture this: The stone has been rolled back, the tomb is
empty, and they don’t get it.
They are just perplexed. The
thick veil of grief, of loss, of most bitter disappointment lays so heavily on
their hearts, that the women see the empty tomb. But they don’t see, they don’t perceive, they
don’t understand.
Fortunately, they
get some help. [ask Fr René & Deacon Billy to please stand. Point at them and say] "Two
men in dazzling garments appeared beside them." [Ask them to be seated] These are the answer men. And they say: "Why do you search for
the living One among the dead?"
There is a note of frustration in their voices, like, "¿How can you
make such an obvious mistake?"
Then these guys in
dazzling suits that would put Armani to shame, say "He is not here;"
among the dead in the tombs, "he has been raised up! They
ask a very important question: ¿Remember
what he said to you while he was still in Galilee - that the Son of Man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day
rise again?" It’s not
like He didn’t tell you all this.
Several times in fact! ¿Remember?
The Gospel says
simply: "And they remembered his words." This is much more than a simple recalling of
fact, like where you left the car keys.
This is much more profound. The
women literally re-member, they put the parts back together again, they start
to make the connections, they recall Jesus’ teaching and they GET IT. He is RISEN!
Finally it dawns
on them. With the help of the two
fashionably dressed men, they get it.
And so the women go off to tell the Apostles and other men.
The challenge in
the Gospel for us this evening is the same, to “remember His words,” to truly take to heart what the Lord taught
us and promised us. We don’t see any
more or any less than the women at the tomb saw: just an empty space. But that is enough, IF we remember His Words,
IF we open our hearts to be touched by the power of Faith.
Five people this
evening will be baptized, will enter into that resurrected life. Most of the rest of us have already been
baptized. We are challenged by the
Gospel tonight to risk belief in the Lord Jesus, to truly open our hearts and to
“remember His words.”
This is our Easter
faith. For Christ our Lord has conquered
sin and death!
Jesus Christ is Risen!!! ALLELUIA! Happy Easter!
AMEN.
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