It is women who first discover the empty tomb and receive the message of the angels that Jesus has been raised. Even though the apostles were to be witnesses to the resurrection, they seem to be in disarray while the women disciples are on hand to receive the joyful news. In their great perplexity before the empty tomb, the women are challenged to remember what Jesus had told them while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man had to suffer, be crucified and on the third day rise again.
The tragic story of Good Friday does not end with the death of Jesus. In one brief moment, everything changes. Jesus “is not here, but has risen.” God raises Jesus from the dead and thereby writes another chapter in the story of salvation which we have heard proclaimed tonight. There will be a tomorrow because the grave is not the end. The announcement, which changed the sadness of these pious women into joy, re-echoes with unchanging eloquence throughout the church in the celebration of this Easter Vigil.
While Luke gives so much prominence to the apostles in the Gospel and in Acts, he is also candid enough to point out the failure of human leaders in the story. Despite his disbelief, Peter believes the women enough that he runs to the tomb and sees the linen cloths and goes home amazed at what had happened. Easter is the promise that death will visit each of us. But more important, it is the assurance that death does not complete life, but only changes it. We are saved; redeemed, renewed. The tomb could not hold the Lord of Life.
We still have profound lessons to learn from the women who ran to the tomb that first Easter morning. They represented countless, nameless, yet devoted women who were part of the crowds that Jesus addressed and in the homes he frequented. They were the courageous ones who reached out fearlessly to touch the fringe of his cloak. They accompanied him from Galilee to Samaria to Jerusalem. They knew the promise made to them, they welcomed him, and they were unafraid to show him great love.
In the end, they stood beneath his dying body, while the men were hiding for fear of the authorities. It was the women who ground spices for his burial and they calculated how to roll back the stone from his tomb. They attended firmly to the business of his living and dying. They were rewarded for their fidelity by being the first recipients of the Good News of the Resurrection. I cannot but help think of the three women who will be baptized tonight – Selena, Barbara, and Rita. Their active faith in Jesus is hopeful, positive, courageous, and unambiguous.
This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice in it and be glad. Alleluia? Alleluia!
Paul A. Magnano
Pastor