INTRODUCTION
Christ is risen as He promised alleluia. Death could not hold Him captive alleluia. We are Easter people alleluia. There is no other better way to understand today’s liturgy than a mystery of God’s surprises. The resurrection of Christ is a good news through which God has surprised the world. His burial seemed to be the end of his story but God changed the story when it was still dark. It was an unsure sign yet a manifestation of the mystery of God who out of darkness chose to shine light upon the world just like in the first moment of creation.
FIRST READING: Acts 10:34a, 37-43
The context for this story begins with God’s call of Abram, when God promised, “All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you” (Genesis 12:3). While the Old Testament relates the story of Israel as God’s chosen people, there is also an undercurrent that reminds us of God’s love for Gentiles. And so the Jewish law prescribes fair treatment for aliens (Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Deuteronomy 10:19)—and Rahab (Joshua 6:25) and Ruth (Ruth 1:16-17), both Gentiles, became part of Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:5)—and God sent Jonah to Nineveh to save the Ninevite Gentiles (Jonah 1:2).
In the New Testament, this openness to Gentiles accelerates. After his resurrection, Jesus told the apostles, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth” (1:8). At Pentecost, Peter (not yet understanding the full import of his words) said, “For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself” (2:39).
In the first half of Acts 10 we read today, Cornelius and Peter both saw visions given by God. In his vision, Cornelius, a Roman centurion and a devout Gentile, was ordered to send for Peter. In his vision, Peter saw unclean animals (unclean according to Jewish law) and received an order from God to kill and eat them. Just as Peter was trying to understand the meaning of this troublesome vision, the men sent by Cornelius arrived. Then the Spirit said to Peter, “Behold, three men seek you. But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them” (10:19b-20). Peter went with the men to Joppa, where he met Cornelius. He said, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean” (10:28). (Sermon writer)
Peter experiencing the power of the resurrection made clear through the Holy Spirit did not only undergo a conversion but he equally proclaimed a kerygma of the universality of God’s salvation. Thus the house of Cornelius became the first contact of the apostle with the gentile world. It was equally emblematic of the God’s eternal desire to save all and to unite all into one single family of the elect.
SECOND READING: Colossians 3:1-4
The Apostle Paul and his coworker Timothy wrote this letter to the church at Colossae (v. 1), a small city in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Paul had not visited Colossae, but had received reports from Epaphras, the missionary who most likely founded the church there (1:7).
Paul speaks positively of the Colossian Christians’ faith, love, and hope (1:4-5) and acknowledges that the Good News is bearing fruit and growing in them (1:6). However, Epaphras has apparently brought Paul news of serious problems at Colossae—problems with false teachings that some scholars today have labeled “the Colossian Heresy.” Paul is writing this letter to help the Colossians to deal with those problems (cf. 2:4, 8, 13-16, 18; 3:5, 8, 18—4:1).
Today the apostle calls the attention of community of colosse to rediscover the essence of their call (holiness): “Set your minds on the things that are above”. Paul’s invitation was meant to combat the wave of secularism that was blowing hard on the faith of the colossians, thus reminding them that once they have accepted to follow Christ, their lives must be configured to his. Paul underlines the theological implication of the christian baptism as a sacrament through which one dies to sin and his life hidden in the life of Christ. This baptismal grace is only enlivened by the life of holiness which is a guarantee to possessing the glory to be revealed at last: “When Christ who is our life appears, then you will appear with Him in glory.”
GOSPEL: John 20:1-9
The resurrection is not only central to the our faith but it is its reason of being: no resurrection, no faith.The mystery of the Incarnation is inseperability linked to the crucifixion, and both are necessary preludes to the resurrection which is the heart of the mission of Christ. Though the incarnation and the crucifixion preceed the resurrection, but both do not have meaning without the resurrection. And Paul underlines it with a thick line when he affirms: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain… If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins…. But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 20).
The resurrection of Christ operated a miracle in the life of his disciples which his presence in the flesh could not perform. It brought them a radical transformation, infusing in them the courage to come out from behind locked doors to face danger in Christ’s name. There is no other explanation for their newfound and persistent courage than that they had seen the risen Christ.
The Resurrection of Christ however presents certain special features. First, Jesus prophesied it as a sign of His Divinity: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”(Jn 2:19). Second, no founder of other religions has an empty tomb as Jesus has. We see the fulfillment of Christ’s promise on the empty cross and in the empty tomb. The angel said to the women at Jesus’ tomb: “Why are you looking among the dead for One Who is alive? He is not here but has risen”(Luke 24:5-6). The real proof, however, is not the empty tomb but the lives of believers filled with His Spirit today! The third special feature is the initial disbelief of Jesus’ own disciples in his Resurrection, in spite of his repeated apparitions. This serves as a strong proof of his Resurrection. It explains why the apostles started preaching the Risen Christ only after receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Proclamation and witness-bearing are the main themes of today’s readings. In the first reading, St. Peter shares his own experience of Christ’s Resurrection and its joy with the members of the pagan Cornelius’ family who received the Holy Spirit as he spoke and then were baptized. In the second reading, St. Paul was bearing witness to his conversion experience and Faith in the risen Lord. And the Gospel explains the empty-tomb Resurrection experiences of Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John. Mary Magdalene proclaims her personal experience: “I have seen the Lord”(Jn 20:18).
LIFE MESSAGES:
1) We are to be Resurrection people: Easter, the feast of the Resurrection, gives us the joyful message that we are a “Resurrection people.” This means that we are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits, and dangerous addictions. It gives us the Good News that no tomb can hold us down any longer – not the tomb of despair, discouragement, doubt, or death itself. Instead, we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, constantly experiencing the real Presence of the Risen Lord in all the events of our lives. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad”(Ps 118:24).
2) We need to remember Easter in our Good Fridays: Easter reminds us that every Good Friday in our lives will have an Easter Sunday, and that Jesus will let us share the power of his Resurrection. Each time we display our love of others, we share in the Resurrection. Each time we face a betrayal of trust and, with God’s grace, forgive the betrayer, we share in the Resurrection of Jesus. Each time we fail in our attempts to ward off temptations – but keep on trying to overcome them – we share in the Resurrection. Each time we continue to hope – even when our hope seems unanswered – we share in the power of Jesus’ Resurrection. In short, the message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us – not pain, sin, rejection, betrayal or death – because Christ has conquered all these, and we, too, can conquer them if we put our Faith and trust in Him.
3) We are to be bearers of the Good News of Resurrection power: Resurrection is Good News, but at the same time, it’s sometimes painful because it involves death. But in all, it is about seeing our world in a new way. We are told that very early that Easter morning, Mary Magdalene did not find what she was looking for, the dead body of Jesus. But she found something better than she could have imagined: the Risen Jesus. Sometimes, the things we think we want most are not granted to us. What we get instead is an experience of God’s new ways of working in the world. That’s the power of the Resurrection. When those moments come, we must spread the news–just as Mary Magdalene did: “I have seen the Lord!” (Jn 20:18). (Fr Anthony Kadavil)
4) The resurrection of Christ is surprise announcement that begs for our response:
The disciples of Christ discovered him in surprise.They who were lost and hopeless were reinvigorated by the news of his resurrection. And in response to, they set out to respond to their surprise. Their determination interrogates us today: “What about us? Do wehave a heart that is open to God’s surprises; are we capable of going in haste or do we persist with the refrain: “well, we will see tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow?”. What does the surprise tell us? John and Peter hastened to the sepulchre. The Gospel said that John “believed”. Peter also “believed”, but in his own way; with his faith somewhat clouded by regret for having denied the Lord. The surprising announcement, the running, the hastening and the question: And what do I do on this Easter Day 2021? What do you do? (Pope Francis).
PRAYER
O God who on this day through Your only begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit rise up in the light of life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
