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E
ASTER
S
UNDAY
Acts 1:34a, 37-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
John 20:1-9 or Mark 16:1-7
S
UMMARY
Today is the most important day in the Christian calendar: the day on
which we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Today˅s Gospel reading is
a straightforward factual narrative of what happened on ˈthe first day of the
weekˉ after Jesus˅ deathˁMary Magdalene seeing the stone removed from
the tomb, running to tell Peter and the beloved disciple; their investigation
of the empty tomb; the sight of the rolled-up burial cloths. The beloved
disciple saw all that Peter saw, the Gospel tells us, but ˈhe saw and
be-
lieved.
ˉ
R
EFLECTION
The simplicity of today˅s Gospel is yet monumental in its meaning:
Jesus
lives.
The very foundation of our Christian belief lies in those two words.
The beloved disciple, in his profound faith, realized this almost immedi-
ately; it took Peter and the others a bit longer. ˈBlessed are those who
have not seen and yet believeˉ (John 20:29).
It is the Resurrection that makes it possible for us to bear the Passion, that
gives meaning and vindication to Jesus˅ agony on the cross. Our tears of
grief become tears of joy. We have walked through the valley of the
shadow of death, of the most grievous of all deaths, and we discover that
God is with us, and that goodness and mercy will follow us for the rest of
our lives.
Mercy is fundamental to our personal resurrections, sinful creatures that we
are. As Shakespeare reminds us, ˈIn the course of justice/none of us
should see salvation.ˉ In the remaining chapters of John, Christ˅s love and
mercy flow over his bewildered, doubting followers: Peter, Thomas, Na-