Easter Sunday turns fear and confusion into faith and joy
Today comes the definitive paradigm shift from which comes our missionary fervor when we proclaim that Jesus is Risen
March 31—Easter Sunday Readings: Acts 10: 34a, 3743; Psalm 118, R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad; 1 Corinthians 5:6a-8; Gospel—John 20:1-9
One description of the mood of the early hours of the first Easter morning is that it was marked by fear and confusion, our first point for reflection.
It was this fear and confusion, compounded by the grieving and mourning over the crucifixion, that is transformed into faith and joy, our second point for reflection.
Central to this swirl of emotions, feelings and thoughts on the first Easter morning was the empty tomb, our third point for reflection.
The Gospel for the Mass for the day on Easter Sunday is the very first Resurrection narrative in the Gospel of St. John. The story culminated in Peter and John entering the empty tomb.
At the beginning of the Gospel, the women found the tomb open and empty which triggered fear and confusion. The fear arose from the thought of who stole the body of Jesus, and this created confusion.
The women then ran to the disciples, not to announce that the Lord had risen, but to express their fear and confusion, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put Him.” (cf. John 20:1-9)
In the ministry of Jesus, He often challenged people to get out of their comfort zone, to go through a paradigm shift. The empty tomb was the final and definitive paradigm shift asked of us and to believe in the Resurrection.
“Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for He has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, He has been raised from the dead ...” (Matthew 28:5-7)
Powerful symbol
It was this encounter with the angel, the messenger of God, when the fear and confusion began to turn into faith and joy.
Matthew continues, “Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to His disciples.” (Matthew 28:8)
This is our second point for reflection, how an encounter with the Risen Lord or the “proof” of his being raised transformed fear and confusion into faith and joy.
We see this pattern in many other encounters of the disciples with the Risen Lord. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Mary who mistook the Lord for the gardener, the 12 and other disciples gathered in the room.
As we will see in the Gospels in the coming days, there was a moment of recognition of the Risen Lord that transformed the grief and mourning, the fear and confusion of His disciples into the faith and joy of the Resurrection.
Fr. Catalino G. Arevalo, S.J. pointed out that the moment of recognition comes when the Risen Lord did or said something familiar to the disciples.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized him at the breaking of the bread. Mary recognized him when He called her by name. These were familiar experiences they had with the Lord and these convinced them it was the Lord.
We can say that at such moments we see the birth of our Easter faith and its power to shift our paradigm radically.
Our final point for reflection is the empty tomb. This, like the Cross of Jesus, is a powerful symbol of our faith.
We cited this earlier when the angel told the women, “He is not here, for He has been raised just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, He has been raised from the dead ...”
In our Gospel for today it was much simpler. When John entered the empty tomb “he saw and believed.”
John the Beloved saw the empty tomb and he believed. It was the depth of his love for the Risen Lord that defined his faith and led him to his Easter faith.
From this moment of recognition, the moment of affirming our Easter faith comes our missionary fervor when we proclaim that Jesus is Risen.