Author: admin

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Gospel: John 20: 11-18

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” 
which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I admire Mary Magdalene so much in this Gospel passage. Her soul is on fire with love; she’s obsessed with finding Jesus.

When she reaches the empty tomb, she’s overwhelmed with anxiety: “They have taken away my Lord! Where did they lay him? Where could he be? Give him to me!” she says frantically, as if Jesus belongs totally to her.

Even when she sees the angels inside the tomb, she tells them, “They’ve taken away my Lord!”

I’d imagine her eyes were so flooded with tears that she mistaked them for human beings.

Then when Jesus appears to her, she thinks he’s a gardener. “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”

Mary’s desperate. She’s on a mission. She’ll do anything to find Jesus, even if it’s just caring for his body once laid in a tomb.

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Mary shows us what it’s like when love of God takes possession of a soul – Jesus is everything.

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How much of that passion for Jesus do we share with her? How many of our thoughts, words, and actions, or how much of our time, is taken up by Jesus?

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May Mary intercede for us, that we would encounter in our own way the same person she did – Jesus raised from the dead.

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Image credits: (1) Mary Magdalene, by Jonathan Weber (2) Rembrandt, Mary Magdalene (3) JW.org

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Acts 2: 14, 22-33

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

“You who are children of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:

I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, 
because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.

My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.”

The Word of the Lord.

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One of the earliest proofs of the resurrection is the complete transformation in Peter’s behavior.

Remember what happens on Holy Thursday and Good Friday: Jesus is betrayed, arrested, abandoned, and crucified. Meanwhile, Peter vehemently denies ever knowing Jesus.

Only the Apostle John and a few women stay with the LORD until his death.

Yet, in our first reading today, the same Peter who denied ever knowing Jesus, risks his life by preaching to the very same crowds who put Jesus to death. 

“This man you killed, using lawless men to crucify him,” he says. “But God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.”

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“Of this we are all witnesses.”

There’s no other logical reason for the change in Peter’s behavior – from cowardice to courage, fear to freedom – unless he’s actually seen Jesus raised from dead.

Peter’s repeated encounters with the Risen Lord compel him to spend the next three decades of his life proclaiming the Good News.

Then, he dies like his Master, nailed to a cross, confident that he, too, would be raised up to new life.

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How strong is my own belief in the resurrection? Do I have the confidence of Peter, that fire of faith in my bones?

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The Church offers us these readings during the Easter season to bolster our faith, inspiring us to believe what Peter did – there is life after death.

Thanks be to God!

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Image credits: (1) The Resurrection, Pietro Perugino (2) Peter Preaching, Masolino da Panicale (3) Good News Christian News

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Gospel: John 20: 1-9

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark, 
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter 
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, 
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, 
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter 
and arrived at the tomb first; 
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him, 
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, 
and the cloth that had covered his head, 
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in, 
the one who had arrived at the tomb first, 
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture 
that he had to rise from the dead.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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There’s an old saying, “Religion begins in a cemetery.” 

Standing at the grave of a loved one, we feel a range of emotions from despair and sadness, to anger and regret, even hope.

Standing at the graveside, Christians hope.

Christ’s victory over death is our promise that we, too, shall overcome the grave. It’s what we celebrate today.

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“Religion begins in a cemetery.”

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If you visit Jerusalem, then you can touch the empty tomb where the body of Jesus once laid. It’s literally a stone’s throw from Calvary, the hill where Jesus was crucified.

But the inner journey from Good Friday to Easter Sunday – from human despair to Christian hope – isn’t that easy; believing in the resurrection takes a giant leap of faith.

Consider the faith journeys of the disciples gathered at the empty tomb that first Easter morning.

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John “saw and believed.” Bingo. 

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But Peter was much slower. It seems he remained stuck on Holy Saturday, fluctuating between doubt and faith, despair and hope.

Peter saw the same things John did – the stone rolled away, the burial cloths folded, the tomb emptied of its precious contents.

But he didn’t make the immediate leap from Good Friday to Easter Sunday like John did. Days from now, Peter will say to the others, “I’m going fishing.”

Not, “I’m going to tell the world what God has done for us!” Not, “Jesus has been raised from the dead!”

But, “I’m going fishing.” 

Meaning, “I’m returning to my former way of life.” He didn’t want to be Peter the Apostle anymore. Just Peter the fisherman. 

How many of us have felt a bit like Saint Peter?

We want to believe. We’ve seen some evidence of the resurrection. Still, we stand somewhere between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

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Then there’s Thomas, often known as “Doubting Thomas.” Unlike Peter and John, Thomas remained stuck on Good Friday.

He wasn’t with the other disciples when the Risen Lord first appeared. Even after the disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” 

Thomas responded skeptically, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Thomas was stuck in his grief. 

Maybe that’s some of us. We lost someone we loved deeply – and, inwardly, we remain stuck on Good Friday.

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Then there’s Mary Magdalene. She was the first to approach the empty tomb and the first to see the Risen Christ. 

Consider why she was there. 

The Gospels portray her as a “sinner,” a woman who had many demons cast out of her. Some say she was mentally ill, even a prostitute.

But Jesus treated her differently. He loved her. He healed her. He gave her new life.

So, she never left his side, which is why she was there on Easter morning. She had nowhere else to go.

Maybe some of us are like Mary: we came to Christ broken, and he healed us. We’ve loved him ever since.

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That’s the first Easter community.

There’s John the Beloved who “sees and believes.” There’s swaying Simon Peter, Doubting Thomas, and the once tormented Magdala.

All of them made the life-changing leap of faith from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. For John it was instant. For the others, it took time. 

For Thomas, a long time. But eventually, his heart was healed.

Maybe that’s where we fit in. We could be any one of them. Which one do I identify with most? Where am I on my Easter journey – Good Friday, Holy Saturday, or Easter Sunday?

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“Religion begins in a cemetery.”

While many of us have known the bitterness of Good Friday, Christians are called to the hope of Easter Sunday. 

Because He is Risen, Alleluia!

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Image credits: (1) Catholic Online (2) Peter and John Running to the Tomb, Eugene Bernand (3) JW.org