Easter Sunday

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” 

So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. (John 20:1-9)

Today is Easter Sunday!  We hear of the resurrection and listen to Mary of Magdala: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” Mary, Peter, and the other unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved were confused because only burial cloths were visible.  According to John, they did not understand that Scripture indicated “he had to rise from the dead.”  And he did.

We Catholics and all Christians hold to this belief, and it gives us hope for eternal life with the grave not holding our spirits – our souls.  As a deacon at every wake, funeral, and burial I speak of this mystery, for indeed it is.  I see many listening to me appearing to be confused and unsure. They see friends and loved ones preserved in burial clothes and laid out in coffins or no body at all – just ashes in a jar or box.   They wonder when they will rise from the dead and in what form.  It’s likely most of us share this wonder.

Today is the day when we all must ask ourselves: Have we taken the Lord from the tomb, and do we know where we have put Jesus?  Does our Lord still rest in the tomb meaning we have kept him in darkness because he is too hard to follow, and we are afraid of total commitment to him? Have we put Jesus first and foremost in our lives?  These are challenging questions for us to honestly answer.

Another challenge is for us to reconcile very different Gospel versions of this event.  For example, in Mark it reads:  When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early, when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. 

On entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.’” Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:1-8)

Perhaps we will never truly understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.  At least we have “faith seeking understanding.”  These famous words were from theologian and Benedictine monk St. Anselm who said: “Lord, I do not seek to penetrate your depths because I cannot even remotely approach them with my own intellect. However, I wish to understand, at least to a certain point, your truth, which my heart believes and loves. Indeed, I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand.”

This Easter Sunday we believe in order to understand, as best we can.

Deacon David Pierce