“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad” is the Easter psalm response. It leads us to express our joy; it is also a way to look at the Easter readings and use them to focus our attention on a Mystery beyond human capacity to understand.
Admittedly, this week my meditations have been filled with the images of the readings of this holiest of weeks: riding into Jerusalem last Sunday, spending evenings back with friends in Bethany each evening; preaching earnestly and intensely to this disciples in a series of parables recorded in Matthew (and used in the liturgies of November). Then in prayer I entered the Upper Room on Holy Thursday night to hear “This is My Body; This is My Blood” as well as to see Jesus wash feet, speak Truth, and proclaim fully the Kingdom of Divine Love in his Farewell Discourse (John 14-17). I walked the Stations of the Cross, reverenced the cross, and felt the emptiness of beautiful music of lament sung a cappella on Good Friday. I hope you, too, experienced the abundance of images and words for meditation during the Triduum.
Now I sit in my kitchen on Holy Saturday, trying to fast forward into Easter while my heart is still filled with Jesus in the tomb. But the story goes on–into the day.
“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad” draws me toward Holy Saturday night and Easter morning. In John’s Gospel, after Jesus speaks Truth to Judas and he leaves, there is a sentence. “It was night.” (John 13:30)
It was night when Jesus and the disciples went to Gethsemane. It was night when Judas led the way to arrest Jesus. It was night when Peter denied he knew Jesus and the disciples scattered. It was night when Jesus was tried before Annas and Caiaphas.
Night broke into a day too dark on Good Friday as the deeds of darkness did their best to kill God. God suffered greatly, still spoke with love, and gave up his spirit. The Father mourned for His Son, rent the temple sacred curtain, and brought darkness over the land at noon.
But then……THEN Jesus went among the dead as one of them….as he had been one of us. He gathered them and gave them hope of resurrection. In the depths of the darkness of the earth—the day the Lord had been making since Adam and Eve in Eden began to dawn.
John 20:1-9
John 19 tells of Jesus’ crucifixion. John 20 begins a whole new story—for the world. “On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala come to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark.” Mary’s heart was still dark, grieving, yet she was drawn to the tomb. Jesus had said in her hearing numerous times, “I will rise again,” but neither she nor anyone expected Jesus to physically rise in his body THEN.
We banter about the dense disciples, but the belief at the time in the resurrection was that the dead would rise “on the last day.” It was a belief—hotly debated.
But then Jesus arose.
Mary Magdalene in this Gospel went alone to the tomb while it was still dark. The tomb was empty. She ran to tell Peter and John. They ran to see—and were perplexed. While today’s Gospel ends with “Then the other disciple also went in…and he saw and believed,” John’s Gospel continues, “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
Mother Church leaves off the next line, “With this, they disciples went back home.”
What? Mary Magdalene stayed—and saw Jesus (John 20:11-18). But Peter and John went home. The day the Lord had made was yet to dawn in them.
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
It took more appearances from Jesus and Pentecost before Peter spoke the words of today’s first reading. The setting is Caesarea. Persecution of Christians has begun in Jerusalem. Stephen has been martyred. Jesus has appeared to Saul and made him Paul. Peter has seen the sheet of unclean animals in a vision on the rooftop. He is speaking to Cornelius, a Roman centurion—a Gentile. This explanation of the Kerygma (Good News of Christ and salvation) by Peter nets the first Gentile baptisms.
By then, it was truly “the day the Lord has made.” Christianity became more than a Jewish sect. Eternal life was opened up to the whole world. Including us. We live in the day of the Lord!
Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
Both these letters from Paul to foundation churches give the same message: That Jesus rose from the dead makes a GIANT difference in how we are to live. We are in a NEW DAY THE LORD HAS MADE.
To the Colossians Paul says, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
He uses a metaphor (of Easter bread) to the Corinthians: “Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough…for our Pascal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Applications
And so, we have become an Easter people. We live in the new “day the Lord has made.” Evil did everything it could to God when it crucified Jesus. Evil cannot kill God. Evil cannot destroy God. I use the term evil here instead of Satan because we can see the evil all around us. Satan and his minions are the source, yes, but the old yeast of malice and wickedness is all around us. It touches us, barrages us, tries to make us live in the night still. It is important for us to remember that we do not live dominated by such evil. Can it touch us? Yes. Could it defeat us? Yes. But it cannot defeat God.
The Lord has made a new day. Let us rejoice and be glad. Let us LIVE in it. LOVE in it. REJOICE in it. REST today in it. Eat. Talk. Pray. Love. BE in this new day.
And let us continue to rejoice and be glad in this new day on Easter Monday and Tuesday and….and…and. For Jesus was raised into Eternal Life. He will raise us into Eternal Life. Spiritually at our death. Physically “on the last day.”
Let us not “go back home” like Peter and John did. Let us STAY in the garden by the tomb with Mary Magdalene so we can see Jesus. He has risen to the Father now, and we can cling to him all we want. He wants a personal relationship with each of us. He wants to lead us into the habits and beliefs of the Kingdom of God. Yes, you. Yes, me.
Prayer:
This is the day the Lord has made. Lord, we thank you for a Mystery and gift beyond our human reckoning. Lead and guide us to know how to live a resurrected life so that we may rejoice and be glad…FOREVER.
