Encountering Jesus Easter Morning

 

Can you hurt an angel’s feelings?

Probably not. But I couldn’t blame the Easter angels for feeling rather unsuccessful.

They tell Mary Magdalene and the others that Jesus has risen from the dead, but they don’t get much of a response.

In this morning’s Gospel, Mary’s not reassured by the sight of the angels. And in Mark’s account, which we heard last night, the angel seems to make things worse. The women run out of the tomb in terror. Things go a little better in the Gospel of Matthew, but all in all the angels didn’t seem to get their message across.

What does convince Mary to announce—notice the verb—that Jesus has risen?

Very simple: Jesus himself appears and speaks with her. The same thing happens in Matthew, and a bit later in Mark.

St. Luke’s version adds a twist. Mary Magdalene and the other women do accept the angels’ words. But not at face value: Luke tells us that they remembered the words of Jesus. That’s what gave them confidence: the angels were reminding them of the things Jesus had taught them about his passion and resurrection.

Two simple conclusions emerge from these Gospel accounts of the first Easter morning. Simple, but at the heart of faith. If you don’t have faith, and would like to have faith, listen to these conclusions. If you have faith, and want it to be stronger, these conclusions matter to you also.

First: nothing can replace an encounter with Jesus, the risen and living Lord. Not historical arguments. Not theology. Not even angels.

Second: the words of Jesus—those he spoke, and the Scriptures as a whole— lead to faith in him. They also play a big part in making it possible to meet Jesus as Mary Magdalene did. The Word of God is not ink on paper but, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.”

To repeat: if you want the joy that Mary had, if you want to replace your deepest sorrows with hope, Easter shows you the path. Meet the Lord who is not dead but alive, not somewhere up there but here, waiting to encounter you.

If you want the peace that came to Mary and the women on that first Easter, remember the words of Jesus—or hear them for the first time. Read the prophecies about him that fill the Old Testament. Jesus himself used those Scriptures to fire up the hearts of the disheartened disciples on the road to Emmaus.

I said these were simple conclusions, and so they are. But how on earth do we make them happen?

Before I answer that question, I apologize to the active Catholics who've heard many times what I'm about to say.  I don’t usually try to preach to you at Easter since Christmas and Easter are our chance to proclaim a message to those who are visiting or those who are curious.

This year is a bit different. I suspect we have fewer new faces online than we’d see on Easter Sunday in person. But I still ask the veteran members of our community to let me repeat myself for the benefit of our welcome visitors who are with us on this special day.

Still, what I have to say does matter for everyone, active and engaged or just checking church out. Because in the cold and barren religious climate in which we now live, all of us, though especially young Catholics and uncertain non-Catholics, need to encounter the risen Jesus the way Mary did—and to hear his saving words resonate in the hearts.

So, once again, I am going to try the patience of longstanding and faithful members of the congregation by addressing those who are still in the wings, watching and waiting.

How do we meet Jesus? How do we remember his words?

I’ll give you a one-word answer to those questions: Alpha.  Which is a good place to start, because Jesus himself says he’s the Alpha—the first letter of the Greek alphabet—and the Omega—the last. The beginning and the end.

Alpha is a video-based program that has the goal of introducing you to the person of Jesus, and to his desire to know you and to let you know him.

And I’ll give you a two-word answer: Faith Studies. The Discovery faith study uses scripture and small group discussion. Like Alpha, it helps you to Jesus and how we can let him work in our lives.

Both programs are staples of life in our parish. After Easter, we will offer both online.

Alpha and Discovery can make this Easter morning the beginning of a new life for you, just as it was for the disciples who discovered all that Jesus had taught them was true.

If you’re a regular parishioner, you’ve heard me say all this before. And of course, many of you have participated in one program or both. But many haven’t, so this year I want to offer a special challenge: even if you know the Lord, even if you’ve studied his word for years, please consider signing up for Alpha or a faith study.

Why? So, you can follow the wonderful and inspiring example of Mary Magdalene. When she saw the Lord, she told others. The news just had to be shared. You also can follow the example of all three women, whose knowledge of Jesus’ teaching was what they needed to accept his Resurrection in faith and tell others about it.

Nothing is more convincing to others than our personal testimony. Stories about angels only went so far, until Mary announced, “I have seen the Lord.”

The pandemic has made life so much more difficult, in so many ways. But it’s also made a few things easier. A very helpful survey just conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with Cardus, the Christian think tank, tells us that online services are no substitute for gathering together. But most people who regularly attend religious services hope online options won’t disappear after the pandemic is over.

In the weeks and months ahead, the parish will be unpacking this important survey as we plan our future. But even now, it hints that online activities other than Mass can be a blessing to busy people.

Before, you had to drive to the church to attend or help at Alpha. Same for faith studies; even if they were in private homes, the participants had to head out to meet others.

So, if you’re a bit reluctant, if you’re very busy, or even just a bit shy—this could be the best time to take the plunge.

The pandemic has even faithful Christians asking some tough questions. Where is God in all this? What better way to look for answers than in safe and nonjudgmental conversation with others?

If you’re a visitor to our livestream, or a parishioner who feels disconnected, whether from God, the parish, or just from other people, Alpha and Discovery can make a huge difference in your life as this wretched situation continues.

But I don't want to finish by sounding like a commercial! It’s not so much Alpha and faith studies that make a huge difference. It’s Jesus, the Risen One, who has overcome death and shown the way to the fulness of life, here and now, and forever. 

Cheer up those disappointed Easter angels—listen to what they say, and prepare to meet the Lord.

Seeing is Proclaiming: Easter Vigil 2021

 

The Letter to the Hebrews says, “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.” That’s just what I hope we’re doing in this glorious Vigil.

But I am sure the Lord won’t mind if I take a few moments to talk about someone else—Mary Magdalene, a woman whom history has not always treated with the respect she richly deserves.

Since the sixteenth century, she has been identified with the “sinful woman” who anoints Jesus’s feet in the Gospel of Luke, although St. Luke never names her. When she is named, it is as a friend of Jesus, and an eyewitness to his crucifixion and resurrection.

It would be easy to make a big mistake about Mary Magdalene tonight,  because the Gospel passage that we’ve just read, doesn’t flatter Mary. In the first place, she and the other women who go to anoint Jesus don’t have much of a plan—they have no idea who will move the heavy stone from the tomb.

More disappointing, as you’ve just heard, Mary Magdalene and the others ran away from the tomb, frightened and amazed.

St. Mark does set the record straight a few verses later, although we don’t read them tonight. A little later he tells us that when Jesus appeared to Mary, she went to tell the others; but only from St. John do we get the complete picture: when we read St. John’s Gospel tomorrow, we learn that Jesus directly commissions Mary to announce the resurrection to the disciples.

And that is just what she did—which is why Pope Francis has embraced her  title as “Apostle of the apostles.”

Why have we taken this short detour from our focus on Jesus? I had two reasons. First, I want to show the connection—the essential connection—between having faith in the Risen Lord and announcing it to others.

In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Mary tells the apostles the good news as soon as she hears it from the angel in the empty tomb, even before she encounters Jesus. In Mark and John, it’s after their meeting. Either way, we can’t miss the point: when you believe that Jesus has truly risen from the dead you go and tell others.

This essential connection between having faith and proclaiming it is a key message for our converts tonight.  You are here because people who believe Jesus overcame sin and death shared that belief with you.

And you will be faithful disciples only to the extent that you share this Easter faith with others, for the rest of your Christian lives.

The second reason I turned the spotlight on Mary was so I could give St. Mark a chance to shine. He may have been a bit weak on details when it comes to the Apostle of the apostles, but when it comes to the details of the resurrection his brief account is as rich as any of the Gospels.

As it happens, another Mary—who almost deserves to be called an apostle to the apostles—opened my eyes to the finer details of tonight’s Gospel like never before. Her name is Dr. Mary Healy, and she is quickly becoming one of the most important evangelists and teachers in the world.

Dr. Healy is showing the Church today needs the gifts of women just as much as the apostles needed the witness of Mary Magdalene. She teaches Scripture to future priests at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, is a respected author and international speaker. In 2014 Pope Francis appointed her as one of the first three women ever to serve on the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Most important of all, she is an intentional disciple with deep personal faith. You’ll know that already if you heard her speak at the Archdiocesan Upper Room conference last year.

So—like the other Mary, Dr. Healy has seen the Lord.

She begins her commentary on tonight’s Gospel with a few words about the three women coming to anoint the body of the Lord. “The faithfulness of the women in associating with the crucified Jesus contrasts with the faithlessness of Peter and the Twelve, who are conspicuous by their absence.”

A point I’d missed.

I’ve always noticed the connection between dawn and the resurrection; I even went to a few sunrise Easter services when I was in university. But Mary Healy takes us deeper into that, writing that St. “Mark’s mention that the sun had risen is the first hint that the darkness accompanying the death of Jesus—the apparent triumph of evil—has been definitively overcome.”

She helps us connect the very first reading we heard tonight, from the Book of Genesis, and the last, our Gospel: “It is the first day of the week, the day when God created light; the beginning of the new creation.”

The beginning of the new creation! And how can we fail to recall the words of the Easter proclamation with which we began our liturgy: “This is the night of which it is written: the night shall be bright as day, dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness.”

May it be so for our catechumens, for all of us watching, and for the whole world, especially in its darkest corners.

Maybe some folks can’t quite picture how something so great can be true for them. Dr. Healy says something that may help. She doesn’t call out the three devout women as poor planners because they wonder who will roll the heavy stone away.

Somehow it was part of God’s plan, because their “inability to roll back the stone is symbolic of the utter powerlessness of human resources against death, the most inescapable fact of human existence.”

“But looking up (a biblical image for recognizing God’s action), the women see that the seemingly impossible has been done. The stone is rolled back. God has entered the story, and has opened the grave.”

What an important thought, for all of us, and for the converts who are so close to my heart tonight.

We’re all wondering who will roll away the heavy weight of this pandemic from our world? Who will do the seemingly impossible?

Soney and Lukas, our soon-to-be-Catholics, you may be wondering how you will be able to live as disciples in a world so hostile to Christian faith and morality. Megan, Aileen, Carolina, Jacob, and Alex—you also face challenges to in living out the commitments you will make at your confirmation next month.

The answer to your worries can be found in the empty tomb. God has entered the story, and everything is possible.

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has been raised.”

No longer in the tomb, Jesus is alive. Alive in the Church which our two catechumens will join next Sunday when they are baptized; alive in the hearts of the remaining members of the RCIA who will be confirmed at Pentecost.

A final detail from the wonderful pages of Dr. Healy’s commentary.  She points out that the young man whom the women meet in the empty tomb is dressed in a white robe. His garment makes us think of the ‘young man’ who had fled naked when Jesus was arrested.

That young man symbolized the shame of all those who had abandoned Jesus in his hour of trial.

The young man in tonight’s Gospel story—clearly an angel—is clothed in a heavenly garment. It is “a hint that God has intervened to reverse the disciples’ failure and restore their dignity.”

Our catechumens will wear a symbolic white garment when they are baptized next weekend.  This glorious sacrament restores lost dignity, washes faults away, and restores innocence to the fallen, as the Exultet proclaims.

Next Sunday I shall say “Soney and Lukas, you have become a new creation and have clothed yourselves in Christ. Receive this baptismal garment and bring it unstained to the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that you may have eternal life.”

But all of us who have been baptized wear that white robe; all of us are clothed like the angel in heavenly attire, so that we may have eternal life.

Without apology, I have handed over much of the homily to Dr. Mary Healy. So, it’s fitting I give her the last word: Although St. Mark’s account of the resurrection is remarkably brief, he invites us “to step into the story and [to] allow the Holy Spirit to bring about the unshakable conviction of faith in the risen Lord that has transformed his own life.”

Tonight, the Church invites you, Soney and Lukas, together with Megan, Aileen, Carolina, and Alex, to step into the story. Step into the story of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to transform your life.

And let us all keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. 

All quotations are from The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, The Gospel of Mark, by Mary Healy. She is a series editor of this fine set of books on the New Testament.