The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the very foundation our Christian faith. In 1 Corinthians 15:14-15, St. Paul declares: “If Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, is your faith. Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ…”
John’s Easter Sunday gospel narrative begins three days after Jesus’ death on the cross, with Mary Magdalene’s early morning visit to theLord’s tomb. Mary saw the stone removed from the tomb, and assumed that the Lord’s body was taken away. She ran to Peter and the beloved disciple and shared her fear that the Lord’s body was taken away and “we don’t know where they put him.”
The two disciples ran to the tomb, saw it was empty save for the burial and head clothes. John described the reaction of the beloved disciple: “he saw and believed.” Peter’s reaction is described in Luke 24:12: “he went home amazed at what happened.” “Believed” and “amazed” indicate that both disciples sensed that the empty tomb and the separated but rolled burial clothes and head cloth were indications that something extraordinary happened. Exactly what happened they did not know, “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
Pope Benedict XVI said that the empty tomb is “the necessary condition” of our Resurrection faith. That Jesus died is attested to by the cross on which He was crucified and by the tomb in which He was buried. Our Resurrection faith therefore arises from the empty tomb: empty not for the reason Mary Magdalene feared. If it were so, Jesus’ body would have remained a corpse subject to corruption. If that were so, Jesus would have been proven to be only a mere man. But the tomb was empty precisely because something extraordinary happened: Jesus Christ rose from the dead!
That He indeed rose from the dead was attested to by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in their accounts of the Risen Lord’s many post-resurrection appearances to His disciples. St. Paul summarized the truth about Jesus Christ’s Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: “…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.”
It was clear from the disciples’ encounters with the Risen Lord that He did not return to the same biological existencethat He shared with all men as Jesus of history. If so, He would have died again just like Lazarus. The Risen Lord rose again to live in a new realm of existence: in permanent fellowship with God, beyond the reach of death, unbound by physical laws. But as the gospel narratives attested, the Risen Lord returned to be seen, touched and heard by His disciples, even have meals with them. He promised to be always with them until the end of time.Thus the Risen Lord brings His faithful into His permanent fellowship with God, through the Holy Spirit, who is the Love of God.
Because the Risen Lord lives on differently, He is even closer to us than He could have been during His public ministry. The Risen Lord is present to us in many more ways, but most especially through the Sacrament of the Body and the Blood. During this time of pandemic when we are only allowed to participate in the Mass through the digital medium, even then is the Risen Lord present to us in spiritual communion. Because He was raised, we can worship Him in spirit and in truth, not just in Jerusalem, but in any church and before any tabernacle anywhere in the world. Because He was raised, the Risen Lord is present whenever two or three believers are gathered in His Name. We can be joined in spirit with the Risen Lord in this life. Because He was raised, we have living hope in our own resurrection and being one with Him forever. And so on.
We repeat: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the foundation of our faith as Christians. This Easter Sunday, let’s joyfully celebrate the Risen Lord’s victory over death, a victory He won for our sake. Whatever difficulties we confront, whatever dangers we face, know that the God who with us and in us is more powerful than the enemy. Nothing can separate us from His love. Our God will always lead us in triumph through Christ, our Risen Lord.