He Is Truly Risen Alleluia Alleluia

 
The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the essence, the pillar of our faith. If Christ had not been raised, our faith would be in vain, Saint Paul says. We would be the most wretched people. As a triumph of good over evil, the resurrection of Jesus grants new life of grace beyond death, thanks to God's love and compassion for us sinners, the Divine Mercy we celebrate the second Sunday of Easter. Jesus conquered death in himself and promised us the same: “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live” (Jn 11: 25). What does resurrection mean for Jesus to grant ever-lasting life to us mortal beings? How are we involved in the mystery of Jesus' resurrection?

Resurrection is not like when we revive someone. Instead of being a kind of reanimation, it is a mystery of transformation of mortal body into a glorified body in God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Scriptures can help us to “understand” a little bit of this mystery. However, it seems to me that something is missing in the resurrection narratives in the four gospels. It is written that after his death on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea – and Nicodemus in John's gospel – took the body of Jesus. They bound it with burial cloths along with spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. They laid him in a rock-hewn tomb in which no one had yet been buried, they rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed.  On the first day of the week, according to the gospel of John, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb early in the morning and saw the stone removed from the tomb. According to the synoptic gospel, Mary Magdalene and other women not only found the stone rolled away from the tomb but also the angels said to them, Jesus the crucified “has been raised”. All talk about the resurrection in the past. What happened in the present is missing.

What did happen the-time-between the moment they closed the tomb with the stone and the moment Mary of Magdala found the stone removed from the tomb in John’s gospel? What did happen the-time-between the moment they closed the tomb with the stone and the moment the angels said to the women “he has been raised” in the synoptic gospel? The four gospels are silent about the-time-between both moments. The mystery of resurrection lies there. No one was there except God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Is it possible to have an idea of what happened even if nobody was there?

The book of Genesis can help us to have an idea of it, just like the same book gives us an idea of the beginning of the creation even though no human being was present. When God created heaven and earth, there was darkness over the deep. God who Himself is light said “'Let there be light', and there was light”. The original darkness could not prevent the light, the first creation of God, shining on. However, we human beings brought darkness back over God's creation because of sin. It took us away from God with death as a result. God so loved us he did not want us far from Him. He sent us His Son to set us free from the darkness of sin and death. As we sinners can be allergic to the light, we crucified the light of the world and laid Him as a prisoner of the darkness of the tomb. Nevertheless, just like the original darkness could not prevent the light, the first creation of God, shining on, the darkness of the tomb could not stop the light of the world, Jesus, who is light from light. Something like this happened in the-time-between because in Jesus, life and light coexist for ever and ever. Nothing can take away Jesus' victory over the darkness of death. How are we involved in the mystery of such a victory?

Since the day of our baptism, we have received not only the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead but also the light of the Risen Lord. Let us keep this light alive, radiant in the brightness of our Lord. This is the light that will prevent us from staying prisoner of the darkness of the tomb. It will help us to overcome death, to see God who is light, and live with Him forever in accordance with our faith.

Through the resurrection of His beloved Son, God make anew His creation by the power of the Holy Spirit. He brought light in all creation to overcome the darkness of sins and death and to restore the original innocence. As we sing the Exsultet, the sanctifying power of Easter night “dispels wickedness, washes faults aways, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners” let us continue to pray for one another and stay open to the grace of the Holy Spirit while we proclaim, He Is Truly Risen, Alleluia Alleluia. 

Fr. Lambert Nieme