Easter Sunday

 

My dear parishioners,

Happy Easter!!!

In this scene, Peter proclaims the Gospel to the household of a gentile, the Roman centurion, Cornelius. The initiative for this breakthrough moment came from God and not the apostle. Three days earlier, Peter learned from a vision that he should not regard any person un-clean and therefore unworthy to hear the Gospel (Acts 10:9-16).

The synoptic Gospels all have two or more women coming to the tomb of Jesus and finding it empty. John’s Gospel has Mary Magdalene come to the tomb alone. She is the first one to come to the tomb, and later on Jesus will appear to her and she will proclaim to the disciples the good new of the resurrection.

The tomb. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning while it was still dark. The only thing that she sees is that the stone has been removed from in front of the tomb. Mary makes no attempt to look inside the tomb. Instead, in great haste, she runs and tells Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple that someone has taken the Lord from the tomb, and they do not know where they put him. Notice that in John’s Gospel, even in death, as in life, people do not know where Jesus comes from or where he is going. Mary’s logic seems to be that a removed stone signifies a stolen body.

Peter. Based on Mary’s testimony, Peter and the Beloved Disciple both run to the tomb. The Beloved Disciple outruns Peter but, apparently out of respect, the Beloved Disciple does not enter the tomb first. He looks inside and sees the burial cloths. When Simon Peter arrives, he actually goes into the tomb and sees the same things that the Beloved Disciple saw. Simon Peter, however, makes no response to what he has seen.

The Beloved Disciple. It was only after Simon Peter had gone into the tomb and seen what was there and what was not there that the Beloved Disciple also entered the tomb. What he had seen earlier was the burial cloths plus the burial head covering rolled up in a separate place. The response of the Beloved Disciple, once he is inside the tomb, is that he saw and believed. He does not seem to believe that the body is missing and thus the tomb is empty. The arrangement of the burial clothes seems to indicate to the Beloved Disciple that Jesus has overcome death. Contrast this to the raising of Lazarus who comes out of the tomb still wrapped in the burial clothing and needs to be set free. Jesus, on the other hand, has been set free from death. This is as much as can be believed at this point. Only later, when they understand the Scriptures, will they understand what they have actually seen and believed

 

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

 

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius