Theme: The Risen Lord gives us Eternal Life
WISHING all of you ‘A Blessed Easter’. Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the death. Alleluia.
Tonight, the Gospel of St Mark tells us that few women went to the tomb where they laid the body of Jesus. There they discovered that the stone, which was covering the tomb, had already been rolled back. There they saw a young man who spoke to them ‘There is no need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He has risen, He is not here….’
Do you know what had happened (two thousand years ago)? Tonight, after almost two thousand years, do you know and still remember what had happened? This is what I will invite you to do this evening: recalling, remembering and recovering afresh the sense of who we are, where we have come from and what we will be.
‘REMEMBER’ is a theme running through the Readings tonight. The first Reading helps us to remember WHO WE ARE: Our origin lies in the hand of God and that although we are ‘made from the dust of earth’, we have life through the breath of God and are made in His image and likeness.
We, the human being, were made for 2 main purposes: i) be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and ii) be masters/care-takers of all God’s creations.
The second Reading helps us to remember that our forefather, Abraham – the Father of Faith, was tested in faith. He was asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac to the Lord. Abraham obeyed the command of the Lord.
Because of his obedience, he was blessed with descendants as many as the stars in heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. All nations of the earth shall bless themselves by his descendants. Later on, God Himself gave us His only Son for the Salvation of the world. Through the obedience of His Son, all nations and people will be blessed and saved by Him.
The third Reading helps us to remember that our ancestors – the chosen people of Israelites – were once slaves in Egypt, brought into freedom by the mighty hands of God. Just as we strive to live in peace and freedom from our sins and death, Christ has won these for us through the Cross of Victory.
Our strongest memories this night focus on the Person of Jesus Christ, the One who gives us our Fundamental and True Identity. At the Easter Proclamation – the Exsultet – we recalled that it was He ‘Who paid the debt of Adam’ and ‘Who poured out His own Blood to wipe clean the record of our ancient sinfulness’. We rejoiced that it was He ‘who broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld’.
But tonight, the memories, that we are recalling and remembering, have a different emphasis – it is not of the past event, but present reality. In the Exsultet, the words celebrating the resurrection of Jesus were not ‘This WAS the night’ but ‘This IS the night’. It is not a past reality, but present Truth. It is in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the events we recall become present to us here and now!
Five times the hymn said that ‘This IS the night’. The wonder is here tonight among us. The work of Jesus is accomplished tonight, just as the words of Consecration in the Mass make the single sacrifice of Christ, offered on the wood of the cross, present again on the altar of every Mass.
What is happening tonight? The Gospel today tells us that when the sabbath was over, few women went to visit the tomb with hearts filled with powerlessness at the event that had happened – the death of their loving Lord. We too sometimes feel power-lessness: when we see someone whom we love suffering; when we face problems and challenges that overwhelm us; when a problem seems to get out of hand or certain sins weigh us down; when we witness the lack of ethical values in families, in the Church communities, in workplace, in society, etc; when we read news about violence, abuses and killings in the world. We too feel powerless and hopeless.
This sense of powerless is like a trap that could lead us to think: What is the point of being good? There is no use in trying to change this culture in the family, in the Church, in office & society? Why should I be bother with the things that go on around me – they paralyse me?
Tonight, as we stand at the threshold of Easter, we know that the all these problems, difficulties, challenges, sins, sufferings, death do not have the last word. We believe that beyond the sealed tomb, there is HOPE! Because our Lord Jesus Christ has Risen from the dead, the tomb cannot prevent the power of His love for us.
St Mark recorded that ‘…. a young man in the tomb said to the women, “Do not be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has risen; He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. But you MUST GO and tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see Him, just as He told you.’”
Tonight, let us return to our ‘Galilee’ – our first encounter with the Lord, and the Risen Lord is waiting for us there. He waits for us in order to bring us to a deeper faith in the power of His resurrection. He wants us to be the Easter People who are joyful in living and sharing our faith in spite of the challenges we face each day. He wants us to rejoice and have faith/hope/love in Him.
Hence, Easter in the night that we should really rejoice over the New Life that the Risen Lord gives us. A night on which Jesus rose from the dead to show us how much He loves us. In the encounter with this Great Love, we just have to receive it, live it, announce it and share it with others. Amen.
