Easter Sunday—2001             

Homily

The first character to enter the scene in this extract from St John’s version of the resurrection story is Mary Magdalen who had stood by the Cross of Christ. She is the first to go to visit the tomb and on finding it empty returns to Peter and says, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb.’

These three things are examples of her deep attachment to and faith in Jesus—that she stood by the Cross, that she is the first to find the tomb empty and that she reports this to Peter using the term Lord.

St John has avoided using the word Lord in his Gospel till now. He has done so very deliberately, Jesus revealed himself and his task only gradually to the disciples and it is only now in the light of the resurrection that they begin to understand who he really is. In the early Christian Community and indeed down the ages till now the use of the title Lord is an expression of faith—by calling Jesus Lord we acknowledge that he is the Christ, Son of God.

Mary Magdalene does not realise that Jesus has risen from the dead, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,’ she says. One wonders who she means by they. Does she mean the enemies of Jesus who might have removed his body for some bizarre reason or does she mean tomb robbers? Most likely she just doesn’t know what has happened, someone must have removed the body and indeed it would take more than one person so we get—they.

But, of course, we readers, we believers, we Christians know what has happened. It is God who has raised Jesus from the dead. The greatest divine intervention in the history of the world has taken place. The Son has broken through the barrier of death, the sin of the human race has been conquered, they way is open to life with God in heaven, and a new way to live has been presented to us—to live in Christ as members of his Body on Earth.

And Mary is rewarded for her faith and her love and attentiveness towards Jesus because she is the one who first meets the Risen Lord—whom she at first believes to be a gardener.

You don’t need me today to tease out for you the interesting interplay between Peter and the beloved disciple and who reached the tomb but held back and let Peter go in first but who then entered the tomb and believed.

There is plenty of material for fruitful meditation in these few sentences alone. But for us this morning we should concentrate on that simple phrase—he saw and he believed.

Of course, the paradox is that he saw nothing! We often think that if we were around in those days and were able to meet Christ in the flesh it would be easier for us to believe in him, but is this really so. We might have liked him, been impressed by him, maybe even followed him—but the apostles all did that, yet it is only with his absence that they came to faith in him. Faith in him as the Son of God, the Risen Christ, the one true Saviour of the World.

We do not see Christ, yet we believe in him. We believe that he rose from the dead, that his is alive and living in our hearts, that we are united with him in this Eucharist that we celebrate, that this community assembled here is an integral part of his body.

We believe all these things and we rejoice that he has overcome the power of sin and death and brought us a new life in him. This is the greatest feast of all. It is a day of commemoration and rejoicing. It is a day of peace and happiness; it is a day of praise and joy.