EASTER SUNDAY - YEAR C

EASTER SUNDAY – Resurrection of Jesus Christ – Year C (Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-9) Theme: Alleluia! We are called to rise up from the earthly powers Reflection Resurrection of Jesus – centrality of Christian faith - The Resurrection of Jesus is the ‘Central Point’ of the salvation history: CENTRAL POINT BETWEEN REMEMBRANCE AND REALIZATION. o We move backwards into the past to REMEMBER the Wonderful Acts of God in the history from the first day of creation to this day of ‘new creation’ and ‘new life’ in and through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore we are always connected to the beautiful experience of past; that’s what we have done in the liturgy of these past few days and in the special manner in the immediate preparations for this great event, that is, in the Vigil:  We have just completed the forty days of preparations with the fasting, prayer and abstinence.  We have just finished the intense preparation in the Holy Week in order to be with the Risen Jesus.  We have fruitfully and gracefully celebrated the ‘Holy Triduum’ in which we have immersed ourselves in the mysteries of Christ and in a special way, in His Passion and Death.  We have also just seen and celebrated with heart-filled rigor, the ‘LIGHT OF GLORY’ and ‘JOY OF RESURRECTION’ in the Vigil of Easter, last night. In this celebration, before re-echoing of Gloria, we have reviewed all the significant events of God’s doing starting from the creation to the Jesus’ passion and death and sepulcher.  In this way we moved backwards from the central point of Jesus’ Resurrection and thus we have become the Christians of ‘Contemplation’ (remembering) of the God’s Redemptive designs. o From now on, we move forwards into the future to REALIZE the ‘newness of life’ from today to that day of ‘New Heavens and New Earth’ (the predication of Apocalypse: “I will make everything new”) again with the faith and hope in the Risen Jesus. Therefore we always go with hope that we are not condemned to death but destined for the new life in Christ. We celebrate this ‘Realization’ in the liturgy of coming few days, in this Easter Season. o Now is the Time to start the ‘Easter Season’. Season of Joy, season of Life and Season of Victory and we walk along with the Risen Christ for these forty days glancing to his own manifestation of his risen glory amidst the people. o With the celebration of His Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the possibility of this realization is made very easy to those who heed to the voice of the Holy Spirit, for He is the One who makes everything new and alive. o In this way we move forward from the central point of Jesus’ Resurrection and thus we become the Christian of ‘Active Mission’ (realization) of God’s presence in and through us. - Easter People – Living Witnesses: People who base themselves upon this CENTRE (Jesus’ Resurrection) are both ‘Contemplative’ (prayer) and ‘Missionary’ (testimony). o People of the Resurrection are not to stop themselves at the ‘beautiful moments of past experience’ (with the life of contemplation and prayer) but actively live and make other live the ‘joyful moments of the future glory’ (with the life of testimony and action). o Contemplation is certainly necessary to gather the spiritual force and energy but it cannot just be outside of the dispensing of this spirit to others which is possible only in the active life of witnessing the joy of Jesus. o The contrary is also true that the active witnessing to Jesus is not authentically possible if it is not strengthened by prayer and contemplation. o Therefore, Easter People move backward into the past to remember the deeds of the Lord accomplished in Christ ‘in contemplation’ and step forward into the future to realize the great things to happen in the Spirit ‘in mission’ and thus they live this present moment throwing themselves completely into the hands of Risen Jesus. Resurrection of Jesus: proofs of its attestation possible? A divine truth of faith! - History and Revelation: o Historically, in the sphere of mere REASON, the Resurrection of Jesus seems to be dim and unclear for various reasons and we are not sure of historical inscriptions for this event. o Revelation of God, in the sphere of authentic FAITH, the Resurrection of Jesus is completely true and a great event that changed the face of the world. o Then, how can we proceed forward without any proof of historical reason: The Person of Jesus Christ himself is the Greatest Proof (self witness): o He is not only historical but revelatory. His journey is not from the history to revelation but vice-versa. He is revealed in history and made the history complete and perfect. Therefore, in the matter of Jesus Christ depending only on the ‘historical proof/reason’ is not enough. Revelation goes beyond the history. History asking for the reason in the realm of Revelation of God is like, as Augustine holds of the Trinitarian Mystery, trying to put ‘ocean into the small vessel’. Therefore, shall we leave it here and say that it is a Mystery that our eyes don’t understand? We should not fall, in this way, fall into the ‘escapism’. o Everything about the ‘Historical Jesus’ is FORETOLD: Though it is revelation of God, nothing happened suddenly. God’s deeds are always prophetic. From the moment God decided to save man from the power of sin and death through His Son Jesus Christ, He has foretold everything ahead of its actual happening. The Old Testament is greatest basis for this foretelling of Jesus Christ who is to come. The greatest ‘Christ-Event’, which includes his annunciation, birth, preaching, passion, death and resurrection and coming of the Holy Spirit, itself is foretold. Christ himself said that He has come to fulfilled what the Law, Prophets, the Psalms of the Old Testament told about him. o He himself foretold about his ‘death and resurrection’, at least three times, long before it actually took place and even though his disciples did not understand it properly. Now, He is (risen) what he has already foretold about himself before. - Is the personal witness completely valid and are there not any other witnesses? Disciples and His chosen people (witness of near and dear ones): o His disciples were the eye witnesses of his ‘Risen Life and Glory’. o Mary Magdalene and Mary worshipping Risen Jesus (Math 28:9); o Disciples on the road to Emmaus recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:31); o The dialogue between Mary Magdalene and Jesus and finally she, with the joy of seeing her ‘Rabbouni’, announces to the disciples: ‘I have seen the Lord’ (Jn 20:18). o Disciples, themselves fearful and hiding, receive ‘peace and power to forgive sins’ from the Risen Lord (Jn 20:19-29). o ‘It is the Lord’ (Jn 21:7) is the joyful testimony of the disciple to Peter and other disciples when the Risen Jesus appeared to the seven disciples. o Peter receiving the authority of ‘feeding the sheep’ (Jn 21:15-19) after confirming his conditional love for Jesus. - On the foundation of these Apostles’ faith and experience of Risen Jesus that the Christianity has its construction and it is still alive and active like a double edged sword. Therefore we cannot simply eliminate the witness of his disciples on the ‘fact of resurrection of Jesus’. But with this experience of faith, can we satisfy our mind’s doubts on this event and say that no reason could explain it but only faith? - By its fruit the status of the tree is measured: We keep reason aside because no one saw Jesus rising from the tomb; we keep the self-witness of Jesus or witness of his disciples aside for time being and now we will try to analyze and rationalize what is the consequence of Jesus’ Resurrection? What happened in the life of disciple who followed him till this moment? What is result of the wonderful words and marvelous deeds he has preached and accomplished? What is the destiny of the Kingdom of God that He established with his passion and death? Is everything gone in vain? The simple answer as we see today, is NO. - Disciples, who were timid and hiding, went on preaching the good news to the ends of the world, even to the cost of their own lives. - The primitive Christian community, with the life of sharing and togetherness, has witnessed the life and mission of Jesus. - The innumerable martyrs who have shed their blood for the ‘vision of Glory of God’ in the next life which Jesus promised. - The small mustard seed which is being planted (with His death) and sprouted (with His resurrection) is now a big tree (Kingdom of God) which has been spread whole through the earth and all the believers enjoying its fruit. By this fruit of faith we know and taste the tree of life (Risen Jesus). - Therefore, history will stop somewhere but not the revelation, but history is needed for revelation; reason has some limitations but not the experience of faith, still reason help to strengthen the faith; Is not unintelligent to search for the one who lives among the dead? It is unwise to minimize the ‘mysteries of God’ to the level of human tiny mind. Resurrection of Jesus – A passage to the true life made possible and easy - True Easter is a Passage from the slavery to the freedom – old paschal mystery o The passing through is the meaning of paschal mystery: in the Old Testament this passage is designed and guided by God himself through Moses. The passage was from Egypt to the Cana: o from the slavery to the liberty; o from the hunger to the feeding with milk and honey; o from the desperation of perdition to the hope of life; o from the darkness of suffering to the light of joy; and o from the death of fear and sin to the life of children of God. - The passage through the desert and through the red sea: The journey was not at all easy. They had to undergo many trial and temptations. Their paschal journey was from their Last Meal in Egypt to the First Meal in the land of Cana. They had to step out of their house in which they ate together and set out for the travel. In this journey the two greatest hurdles they had to pass through with the complete trust in their liberator are: the desert and the red sea: o Desert is the time of helplessness and a time of test for the total dependency of the people on the providence of God alone. They should not give up faith and hope. They have to manifest their total confidence in God. They would find themselves in the abandonment but they have to preserve their utter obedience and fidelity to the God’s word. And many of the Israel have reached the Promised Land because of their regain of hope, by getting up from the falls of their despair and disbelief. o Red Sea is another hurdle they have to pass through. They have to believe in the power and handiwork of God. The important gesture is to get down (because it is deep) into the sea (because the waters stood like the walls) and pass through it and reach the other side. In other words, it is a time to pass through the danger/valley of death (its profound deepness) and come back to the life which will not turn back (life on the other side of the sea), the life which will never be taken away from anybody because who follow them to destroy them are destroyed with the waters of the sea. What a significance we have from this: it is not the waters that saved them but the power of God. Waters has the capacity to give life (our daily experience reveals to us) and to lead to death (the calamities that are created by the floods and storms). But God alone knows how to use them for saving his people. It is through this experience of moments of death in the passing through of the red sea that God opened them the way into the Life of Promised Land. - True Easter is a Passage from the Eucharist to the Actual Life – new paschal mystery o This is the same experience that Jesus manifests in his journey towards his Father. His paschal journey starts not just from the arrest in Gethsemane but the Last Supper itself. Jesus comes out the room in which he had the Last Meal with his disciples and sets out to the Father with whom he will have the First Meal of glory. Even here Jesus had to undergo two main hurdles: abandonment (the desert experience of the Old Testament) and death (the Red Sea experience of the Antic Journey). o He is abandoned by his disciples and even feels the total abandonment by his Father too: “Eli Eli lama sabactani” – O God, O God why have you abandoned me. o He has also undergone the red sea experience: he gone down to the earth in the tomb which signifies the passage from one side to the other, one stage to the other, transformation from one image to the other; it is only through this he is asked to enter into the bosom of the Father. Even being God’s Son he had accepted – out of free will – to pass through this experience. It is because he knows well that this is the ONLY WAY that God has PREPARED for the SALVATION OF THE WORLD. Passing through the desert/abandonment and death/waters of red sea. - The Vigil Liturgy of Easter re-lives this experience: o We participate in the liturgy of the baptism in which the waters are blessed and sprinkled as the manifestation our spiritual immersion into the divine life. We renovate the baptismal promising of renouncing the evil and dying for the sin so that we profess our faith with vigorous freedom. o Even prior to that many readings of the Old Testament that the Church proposes prepares us to take part in the promises of God which are fulfilled in the New Testament: it is a true passage from the Old to the New Covenant, a passage from the promise to the fulfillment, a passage from the Proclaimed Word to the Celebrated Eucharist. o We are called to celebrate this feast not only to ‘remember’ what has happened in the past but also to ‘participate’ in them with the task of faith and mission: to proclaim and to live the Easter – real passage from our present life of the world to the future life of God’s glory. - Readings becomes our spiritual nourishment: o First Reading: Only question we can ask while reading this piece from the Acts in which Peter preaches to the family of roman soldier is: who was Peter before the event of resurrection of Jesus and who is Peter now after experiencing the Risen Jesus? Enough we have got enough of the proof. o Second Reading: In as much as we believe in the Risen Jesus we have to search for the things above. We are no more in the sepulcher but risen. No more looking down with desperation but looking high. We are not to be immersed in the life of the earth but with the hope of rising again to our Life and our Life is Risen Christ (v. 4). o Gospel Reading: ‘come and see’ – ‘see and believe’: John starts the mission of Jesus with the call to his disciples to ‘come and see’ (Jn 1:39) and now he ends the mission of Jesus with disciples’ “seeing and believing” (Jn 20:8).  According to John’s theology, this is the process of knowing and acknowledging the Truth that has come into the earth: COME – SEE – BELIEVE.  Once we believe, which goes beyond the reason and historical proofs, THIS EVENT OF RESURRECTION becomes the Day of Victory, Day of Life and the Day of Alleluia because, as the Psalmist says, this is the day that the LORD HAS MADE, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Alleluia. We are enabled to break and rise up from the material tombs - Jesus is risen! Let us sing with the joy the acclamation we have missed for the forty days of lent and acclamation is Alleluia! Alleluia! Jesus has won the powers of evil and death, Alleluia! Jesus has broken down the chains of darkness, Alleluia! Jesus has divided the earth into two sides like that of the partition of the red sea, Alleluia! Jesus has opened the closed tomb, Alleluia! The acclamation of the joy and glory of the resurrection can continue further. We truly become the people of Alleluia by this. But the acclamations of Alleluia are not enough. The carry the fact in mind and live it in concretely in life is what is needed. The fact is that Jesus is risen and made us capable of rising from our closed tombs of material life. - Let us rise up! Let us get up. We are not made to be attached to the earth. We are not called to be immersed in the material ground. We have to break its inclinations and rise up. This is the impact of Jesus’ resurrection in our life: we are no more buried but risen up. Two little examples can help us to understand better this fact. o The seed: The seed is sown in the ground. Indeed, the ground is necessary for the sprouting. The ground helps the seed to transform. But once the seed is transformed it does not remain buried in the ground. The very nature of the seed is not be buried always. Further, it breaks the earth and comes up. It breaks the hard ground and rises above. So also our Christian life. We do not belong to this ground or the earth. We need the material world indeed. But we need it only till we sprout up and transform. Once we are transformed in faith and Christian charity, the ground remains always under our feet. We do not anymore become slaves to the ground. Though we are rooted in the ground, our ultimate nature is to stand over it and above it and grow higher and higher. Jesus is buried but he does not remain there forever because it is not his place of living. He breaks open the ground and comes out victorious. We need to understand that by his resurrection Jesus has made us capable of leaving behind the material ground and transcend in our spiritual life. o The egg: The egg is the transforming ground for the chick. Once the essence of the egg changes its form and becomes chick, it does not remain in it any longer. It break the egg and comes out. The tomb is like the egg. It may look dark and desperate place but it helps the insider to take his true form. Jesus comes out of the tomb like chick comes out of egg. The Easter teaching for us lies here. Let us come out our closed lives. How long can we stay there without seeing the light and without interacting with the world around. Easter Jesus asks us to open the doors of our life to allow the fresh air of hope, faith and charity to enter in. Jesus comes out and never closes his life but manifests himself to his disciples and to the world. So also. Once we come out in faith we should not turn back but to witness our life with an authentic openness to the other. We need to understand that Jesus by coming out of the tomb has give us the capacity to break open our secured, prejudiced and closed lives so that we can see the face of the other and meet him in the concrete situation of reciprocal affection. - Only when we begin to see the fact of resurrection and take from it the strength to live it in our daily situation we really celebrate the Easter. Otherwise, Easter comes and goes as every year without touching us in any way. Jesus is risen not because he wants to show to the world that God is great and nothing is impossible to him and thus to manifest his glory. Jesus is risen because he wants to re-bring man to his lost capacity of Christian elevation. Man is primarily and originally created to live and to share his life with the creation offered to him. He lost his capacity because he desired to stay only in the ground and thus buried in the material pleasures. Jesus is risen so that human being can get back his power to break the chains of evil and death and come out resurrected and transformed. It is possible for Christ and it will always be possible also to those who follow him in profundity. Let us not stop ourselves with the celebration but live the fact in our everyday life. Let us Live and Act as the Risen Christians. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!