Reflection on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021.
Readings
Theme: Living a New Life
In his first contact with the Gentile world, Peter presents the Christian kerygma, the “good news” of Jesus. He highlights the resurrection to which he personally attests. The gospel gives us the Johannine account of Peter and the beloved disciple reaching the empty tomb, with the latter being the first to come to faith recognition of what had transpired. In the second reading, Paul stresses the moral dimension of resurrection faith. In whatever we do, our attention is riveted on the heavenly values which Easter makes manifest to all humanity.
First Reading — Acts 10:34, 37–43
Acts is the companion piece to Luke’s gospel. They are really two volumes of a single work, beginning with Jesus’ earthly ministry, moving through his death-resurrection, and finally bringing the “good news” to “Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Peter’s speech is but one of numerous kerygmatic discourses in Acts, some to Jewish hearers (2:14–39; 3:12–26; 4:9–12), others to Gentiles (14:15–17; 17:22–31). All of them betray their origins in the catechesis of the early church, which Luke has adapted to his own purposes. This speech to the members of Cornelius’ Gentile household is especially tailored for a Gentile audience. These discourses in their primitive form centered on the key features of Jesus’ redemptive act: his death in accord with the divine plan, his resurrection as foretold in scripture, and his post-resurrection appearances (1 Cor 15:3–7). Eventually the kerygma also included a brief summary of Jesus’ earthly ministry, to which the apostles were recognized witnesses (1:21f). This latter inclusion eventually developed into the whole body of teaching which constitutes the full gospel (Mk 1:1). All of these aforementioned features are found in this Petrine discourse: earthly ministry (vv 37ff), death (v 39), resurrection and manifestation (vv 40f).
Jesus brought God’s “word” (the “good news” of salvation) first to the Jews in fulfillment of prophetic promise (10:36; Is 52:7). According to Luke’s gospel schema, Jesus’ ministry begins in Galilee and terminates in Jerusalem, with the greater part of his teaching or didache given to the people as he makes his journey south. The two geographical focal points of Galilee and Jerusalem come to the fore in the speech. The ministry of healing receives emphasis with Jesus led by the holy Spirit, a key Lucan motif (Lk 3:22; 4:1, 14). God anointed Jesus (v 38): In the sense of consecrate for mission, at the time of Jesus’ baptism by John (Lk 3:21f).
The testimony of the apostles, beginning with the baptism and continuing to the resurrection, is an essential witness for Luke (vv 39, 41; 2:21f). Jesus’ appearances after the resurrection were reflective of his new transcendent form of existence. He was not seen by everyone but only by those so designated (v 41a). Eating and drinking with Christ, on the other hand, maintains a continuity with the earthly Jesus. Even with a corporeality now totally transformed, he is not a mere phantasm or internal vision (v 41b; Lk 24:36–43). The witness of the apostles is intended to link the proclaimed risen Christ with the terrestrial Jesus (v 42; 1:8).
The concept of Christ as universal judge is prominent in the Gentile discourses (v 42; 17:31). This is not so in the Jewish speeches where scriptural attestation and Jewish culpability in Jesus’ death are more to the fore. The discourse ends on a note of universalism. Everyone without exception has access to God’s forgiveness in Jesus’ name (Lord), a forgiveness made possible through faith recognition and repentance (vv 43, 36; 2:38; 3:19).
Responsorial Psalm — Ps 118
This thanksgiving psalm echoes the sentiments of an individual, perhaps the king, who here represents the experience of the collective Israel. The psalm expresses gratitude to Yahweh for deliverance in liturgical terms connected with temple worship.
The exhortation to collective praise of Yahweh for his covenant fidelity is extended to the nation (v 2), then to the priests (v 3) and Jewish converts (v 4). The right hand is the warrior’s source of strength and protection, here used figuratively for Yahweh’s power to deliver his people (v 16). He has brought Israel (“I”) back from the edge of defeat and destruction to live again in his presence (v 17). This insignificant country, demeaned by the great powers of the time, has become a centerpiece of the international scene solely because of Yahweh’s evident favor (v 22).
This psalm finds its place in the Easter liturgy in being applied to Christ brought back from death to life (v 17) and in his rejection by his own people leading to his becoming the cornerstone of a new people of God (v 22). This latter verse is repeatedly applied to Jesus’ ironic position in the new dispensation (Mt 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:7). The refrain acclaiming the day of the Lord, fitting for Easter, expresses the psalmist’s sense of joy (v 24).
Second Reading — Col 3:1–4
The Colossians passage illustrates the consequences of union with the risen Christ.
As is his custom, Paul establishes the theological basis (vv 1–4) for the moral imperatives which he lists (vv 5–11). Baptism represents a union with Christ’s death and resurrection (2:12). Once this has transpired, a new way of thinking and acting arise from this “new life,” which is a life centered on eternal realities.
Christ is seated (v 1): The enthronement of Christ with the Father points to messianic fulfillment as foretold in Ps. 110:1. The earth-centered life now becomes part of the pre-baptismal past and is thus excluded (v 2). The new life remains temporarily hidden, to be fully revealed only with Christ’s return (vv 3f; Rom 6:2–5). This interim period must be one of vigilance. The full nature of what has transpired in the Christian is not yet apparent. Glory is seminal only.
Third Reading — Jn 20:1–9
It is difficult to harmonize the different accounts of the empty tomb and appearances of the risen Christ in the four gospels. They represent different traditions, some emphasizing the role of the women, others, that of the disciples. They all converge, however, around the basic fact: the tomb was empty and the Lord was risen.
Only John has Mary Magdalene as the sole visitor to come to the tomb in the early hours of the first day of the week. In the synoptics she is in the company of other women (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1; Lk 24:10); even the Johannine account evidences an earlier plurality (“we,” v 2). The present narrative may well come from a joining of the Matthean and Lucan accounts. Mary does not enter the tomb nor is there any angelic apparition. She simply concludes that the body has been removed on the basis of the rolled-back stone (v 1). She comes to Easter faith only later with Jesus’ appearance (vv 11–18).
Peter and another disciple, upon receiving the news, hurry to the tomb. The disciple whom Jesus loved (v 2): He is never identified in terms other than “the beloved.” Closely linked to Christ at the supper (13:23–26), he is present at Calvary (19:26f). His role is more theological than historical, representing the believing and loving Christian who never wavers in his constancy and fidelity. It is the beloved disciple who arrives first at the tomb (v 4). His deference to Peter may be explained in terms of Peter’s position in the early church as a witness to the resurrection. In the narrative, however, his secondary position gives him a particular prominence, when, after Peter’s bewilderment, he becomes the first to believe (v 8). This flows from his unwavering love of the Lord.
The burial cloths lying in order and even folded pave the way for faith; they indicate that the body was not stolen in haste (vv 6f). The disciples’ failure to believe (apart from “the beloved”) is attributed to a faulty scriptural understanding (v 9: Lk 24:26). It is not clear, however, wherein the clarity of the scriptures regarding a dead and risen Messiah lies. There was evidently a Christian rereading of the scriptures in the light of the resurrection. Thus, this may refer to the servant of the Lord (Is 53:1–12) and other allusions now read in a new light (Ps 16; 10; Hos 6:2).
Newness of life — that is the message of Easter, the Church’s principal feast. It comes in the spring of the year when nature begins to burst forth anew. The new clothes and the Easter eggs are symbols that point to new life. It is the resurrection itself that is the major statement about life.
Christ’s emergence from the tomb has importance for three major reasons. First of all, it is God’s endorsement of everything Jesus claimed and taught. His life ends in victory not defeat. He was not destroyed by cynical machinations, political manipulation, or military power. In Jesus’ resurrection, God has the final word. Secondly, this faith event is a cause of our salvation. Paul tells us that if Christ did not rise, then we are still deep in sin. It is the risen Christ that gives the Spirit, our sanctifier. The “firstborn of the dead” gives assurance to all of us that we are called to a similar destiny. Finally, it is the risen Christ that represents the starting point of Christian faith. It is the prism through which everything in his earthly ministry is now viewed. The risen Christ is read into the events that preceded his death. Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish rabbi instructing his disciples, is truly God’s Son and Lord. Easter stands at the heart of faith.
Paul always looks at the practical dimension. We now have a heavenly homeland, a new vision, and eternal truths to shape our thinking. This does not mean that we live only for a world to come. To bring the Easter spirit to life in a suffering world is very much our task in the here and now. There are the disheartened and the discouraged, the terminally ill, youth in need of credible role models, the poor who people the world’s barrios and favellas. The point is, however, that it is our spiritual vision of the new reality which directs all that we do. Easter opens the door to a future heavenly banquet. It is the ultimate Easter dinner to which all are invited by the Lord who rose and was first accepted in faith by one who loved.
