The first reading from Acts is one of the earliest Easter sermons recorded. Peter reports what the early Christians believed: that Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit and power, preached, did good things, and healed those gripped by the devil. Then his enemies killed him by hanging him on a cross, but after three days God raised him up, and he was seen by his followers who now must give witness to Jesus in whose name we have forgiveness of sins.
Notice how Peter does not try to prove the resurrection or explain it. Peter doesn’t even refer to what Jesus taught but to what he did and what God did for him: God transformed the scandalous death of Jesus on a tree to a glorious resurrection in which all of his followers share the same power of transformation. The resurrection is about Christ and it is about us!
In our second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, again, Paul is speaking about the resurrection of Christ but also about our own transformation. Paul tells them that they were raised with Christ and to seek what is above. We too will appear with him in glory. Once again, the resurrection is about Christ but also about us!
Today’s Gospel reminds us that the story of the resurrection begins with an empty tomb, with Mary Magdalene who weeps not just because Jesus has died, but because she believes someone has taken his body from the tomb. There are no explanations or proofs given of the resurrection, simply a story of the beloved disciple who had the guts to enter the empty tomb, and who saw and believed.
Again, the resurrection is about what God has done for Jesus, but it is also about what God has done for us. The beloved disciple represents all of us who even in the midst of death are sensitive to the presence of the risen Jesus in faith and love.
It’s a pity that Mary Magdalene gets shortchanged in the lectionary reading today. If we read further on in John, she stays there at the empty tomb and is the first person to see the Risen Lord and is the first Christian to actually preach: “I have seen the Lord!” Now what do those who believe women shouldn’t preach do with a text like that?
No one will know about Jesus and what he means for our lives unless we tell them. Sara, LeeAnn and Hitomi were baptized last night. Not a single one of them came to the church without the intervention of a friend or spouse. The Good News about Jesus is not to be kept a secret. There are many people out there depending on you and me to tell them.
The resurrection is something we celebrate, and the best place to do that is at the Lord’s table. Here we confess our broken infidelity, and then, with eyes of faith, we name the grace evident in our common lives, and share his Body and Blood, which is given as a source of our own transformation to new life.
The resurrection of Christ is not just about the glorious event of the past but about seemingly impossible transformations that occur in the present because of Christ’s power and the Holy Spirit. Like the transformation taking place in our own searching lives. Indeed Christ is risen today!
Paul A. Magnano
Pastor