March 31, 2024 - "Happy Easter"

The Lord has risen as he said, Alleluia!  As we listen to John’s Gospel today, we have the opportunity to hear three different reactions to the empty tomb.  Mary Magdalene is the first one on the scene.  She is confused and upset.  She notices the stone has been rolled away.  It is still dark and she is by herself.  She runs for help.  I rather imagine the scene the way Anne Bancroft played Mary Magdalene in the 1977 movie Jesus of Nazareth:  Mary comes back to report what she had seen.  When they dismiss what she says, she scolds them sharply for their unbelief and cowardice and storms out of the room where they are hiding.  Mary Magdalene was indeed on this occasion an apostle to the apostles, as St. Thomas Aquinas called her centuries ago.  Eventually Peter and John set out to see what is going on.  John defers to Peter, so Peter is the first to enter the tomb.  Peter is confused but notices that the burial cloths are rolled up separately and not thrown about or unrolled on the floor—which would have been the case if the body had been dragged away.  Neither Peter nor John who also entered the tomb by that point understood, but John saw and believed.
 
This initial encounter of the empty tomb is a paradox.  It is not the presence of Jesus that inspires belief in John, but his absence.  Belief came without seeing, hearing, or touching.  It came without proof.  Different apostles took different routes to belief.  Next week we hear about Thomas who does not believe, even stating that unless he could put his finger in the nail marks and his hands in his side he would not believe.  As we know the risen Jesus will give him an opportunity to do just that.  Our Lord Jesus tells Thomas that he believes because he has seen but blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.  It bears repeating:  different apostles took different routes to belief.  We will continue to hear this message over the next two weeks.  Let’s admit it:  we take different routes ourselves.  In the presence of Jesus, or in his absence, we can believe because of the grace of God.
 
Happy Easter everyone!
 
Until next week,
Fr. John