The Miracle Of Easter

• 4 years ago

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER

Solemnity Of Easter (YR A)

Readings:

Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Col. 5:6b-8

John 20:1-9

In the Gospel reading we hear about St. John entering the tomb where Jesus had been buried. St. John says of himself that he “saw and believed.” This is followed immediately by the statement that “they did not understand the Scripture that He had to rise from the dead.” Jesus had told His apostles on several occasions that He would rise from the dead, but having no basis of reference from experience, the apostles were not able to understand the meaning of our Lord’s words.

The fact that St. John saw and believed is quite remarkable. What he saw was an empty tomb with only the burial clothes that had covered the body of Jesus. It is clear from his statement that St. John did not think the body had been stolen or removed. Recall that when St. Mary Magdalene came to the apostles, she reported that “they have taken the Lord from the tomb.”

God must have given the Beloved Disciple a grace to have insight at that moment into the mystery of the Resurrection because, if he believed, then he could not have thought that what happened to our Lord was similar to the resuscitation of the three persons Jesus had raised from the dead in St. John’s presence.

We know our Lord appeared to His apostles shortly after this incident and gave them understanding of the Scriptures, but this event of the Resurrection is what changed their lives forever. It would not be until Pentecost that they would begin their mission of preaching, but the miracle of Easter became the central element of their preaching of Jesus as the Messiah. They never stopped drawing people to the cross, but the cross is not an end in itself; rather, the cross is not only the means to the Resurrection, the cross makes sense only in light of the Resurrection.

Thousands of people were crucified by the Romans. No one speaks of their suffering or death except in an objective sense. However, the Passion of Jesus has been meditated on and written about for two thousand years. This is because the Resurrection demonstrates who Jesus is and gives meaning to His Passion and death. In the first reading St. Peter, preaching in Caesarea, in the home of Cornelius, speaks about everything Jesus said and did from the time of His Baptism: His healings and exorcisms, His crucifixion and, finally, His Resurrection.

The apostles had been with our Lord for three years. They saw everything Jesus did and received His teaching. Peter even professed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God.

But none of the miracles, none of the teachings, not even the Passion were proof to them that He actually was the Messiah. Only through His being raised from the dead did they have the evidence necessary to be able to know in the depths of their being that Jesus truly is the Christ. They could think it previously, but now they knew without doubt that He is who He says He is and who Peter had professed Him to be: the Christ, the Son of God.

Peter tells Cornelius that everyone who believes in Jesus will receive forgiveness of his sins through His Name. In this we see that Peter now understood the necessity of the cross. The forgiveness of sins did not come through the Resurrection, but through the suffering and death of Jesus. But it is the Resurrection that gives meaning to our Lord’s suffering and death.

On Easter we have the beautiful practice of renewing our baptismal vows. While it is good to be reminded of what we have promised to God, the importance of this renewal on Easter has a much deeper purpose. Our Baptism defines who we are. One can promise to repay a loan or to help someone with a task, but such promises do not define the person.

At the moment we were baptized we became members of Jesus Christ and sons and daughters of God. Jesus was the Messiah from the moment of His conception, and He did many wonderful things in His life, but Jesus’ actual work as the Christ took place only in His Passion and Resurrection. So, as members of Jesus Christ, we are baptized into the Person of Jesus, but in a particular way, we are defined by being united to His Passion and Resurrection. This defines Him as the Christ; it defines us as Christians.

This is what St. Paul tells the Colossians in the second reading when he says we were raised with Christ and our life is hidden with Christ in God. Our Lord’s whole life led to the cross and Resurrection, and the same is true for us as Christian people: “When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.”