Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb during the wee hours of the morning while it is still dark and finds the stone rolled away. She runs to Peter and John to share with them the news, that: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him” (Jn 20:2). Peter and John retrace the steps of Mary, running to find the tomb empty as well. All three are stunned because “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (Jn 20:9).

How can we blame them? Do we fully understand the reality and fact that Jesus has risen from the dead? Some make the conjecture today that Jesus did not really die, but woke up three days later, aching all over from the excruciating effects of the crucifixion. Others say that the accounts of the resurrection were mass hallucinations, or that the Gospel accounts of Jesus rising from the dead are mere myth. These propositions do not stand up to the fact that Jesus, fully God and fully man died, entered death, and conquered it. In so doing, he then entered a new life, a new reality. Jesus, in becoming the firstborn of the dead, was transfigured from our three-dimensional reality that we all know and experience, such that he now resonates at a higher pitch, in a higher dimensional reality. Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation!

All human history changed in that tomb because of this new fact of the resurrection of Jesus. How this happened is a mystery and seeking to understand, which is good, will fall short and be frustrated if we only approach the mystery of God in the same way that we tackle a problem to be solved. The Apostles and disciples of Jesus struggled to find meaning and understanding regarding how Jesus crucified was now gone from the tomb. They came to understand the mystery of the Resurrection, the same way that they came to understand the mystery that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Understanding happened in their encounters with Jesus. The mystery of the Resurrection is not a problem to be solved, but a person to encounter, a relationship to embrace, as it was for the Apostles and is so for each of us.

Faith seeking understanding is grounded in having an encounter with a person, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Pope Francis writes about this on page nine of his Joy of the Gospel: “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness.”

Easter Sunday is the day where this joy first truly became possible, and this joy is needed now more than ever. And yet, as we read in our gospel, Easter Sunday did not begin with a full brass band and banners waving. For: “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” (John 20:1).

Mary reacted as most of us would. She sought some point of reference. The stone was opened, someone must have stolen the body. When we encounter a mystery, we seek to understand. Jesus, time and again, transcends our comfort zones and the parameters of our finite attempts to seek meaning. When we are willing to seek with our reason, open our minds and hearts to encounter the reality beyond our reason; when we allow ourselves to wonder and allow ourselves to encounter Jesus; our Fridays of pain, suffering, and grief become good, our Saturdays of silence and the between times become holy, and the Resurrection is the fulfillment of the promise that we do not suffer and believe in vain.

Jesus who is the Christ, has truly risen – Alleluia, Alleluia!!!

We are an alleluia people. God has not only loved us into existence, but through his Son, we have also been loved into the promise of eternity, where suffering and death will be no more! A promise I believe even more strongly on this Easter, as I celebrate my fifth one without JoAnn. I hope that she is now celebrating along with Mary and the saints and that she is now where we will one day be rejoicing, because Jesus has opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed, death that he conquered, and his Resurrection that we celebrate today! Alleluia!

May God bless each of you and fill you with the peace, joy, and love of Jesus his Son! Happy Easter!!!

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Photo: Our last Easter vigil together, April 20, 2019.

Francis. Evangelii Gaudium, Joy of the Gospel, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Frederick, MD: The Word Among Us Press, 2013.

Link for Mass readings for Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024