Easter Sunday Evening Homily
In contrast to the very dramatic Gospel of Matthew, which was used at last night’s Easter Vigil, John’s Gospel simply presents us with the empty tomb. Mary of Magdala comes running to tell the two disciples that the body has been taken out of the tomb. The disciples hurry to the tomb to see for themselves. Eventually both of them go into the tomb. They both see the same thing. There are the cloths in which the body was wrapped but the body has gone. There response, however, is different. Mary and Peter will have there encounters with the risen Jesus which convince them of the resurrection. However, the beloved disciple goes into the empty tomb, he sees and he believes.
What is our response to the empty tomb? What is our response to Easter? Celebrating the resurrection of Jesus is an act of faith. Faith to believe the witness of the Gospel, but more than that. What the beloved disciples comes to see is not just that Jesus has risen from the dead. This is not like Lazarus, whose much more dramatic coming out of the tomb, that disciple had witnessed. No, the disciple comes to believe in the significance of that empty tomb. Everything Jesus had said had come to pass. Jesus has not just risen, he is “the resurrection and the life”. Through his cross and resurrection he draws all people to himself. The symbols we use at Easter, the light of the Easter candle, the water, recall what Jesus said about himself. He is the light of the world, he does offer the water of life as he told the woman at the well. If we see and we believe then we understand the meaning of our lives, we understand the meaning of creation. All around us is transformed by the reality of the resurrection.
What do we see as we celebrate this particular Easter? Many people have said these are strange times and ask what is happening, what does it all mean. This is a challenge to our faith. We are called to see and believe. To believe in these strange times, to hold fast to the hope the resurrection gives us. To be able to see what we experience in our lives in the light of Easter. Let us ask that we might see and believe as we contemplate the empty tomb. Let us ask that we, like the disciples and Mary of Magdala, might be witnesses of the Good News of the resurrection in our world, especially in this world today which needs the resurrection message “Do not be afraid”.
Fr Chris Pedley S.J.