Today is the feast of St. John, apostle and evangelist, often identified in the gospel that bears his name as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Today’s gospel reading tells of John and Peter running to Jesus’ tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. The scene is beautifully depicted by painter Eugène Burnand. In the background a wide-open sky in which the golden rays of the sun have overtaken the darkness of the night—only a few shades of purple remain. Peter dominates the foreground, dressed in colorful garb. John, the beloved, is further from the eye of the observer, running ahead of Peter, dressed in white with his hands folded in great hope and expectation.
Entering the tomb and seeing the burial cloths left nice and tidy eliminated any suspicion of a possible theft of Christ’s body. Truly, He had risen from the dead. The beloved disciple saw and believed (John, 20:8). In this Christmas season in which we celebrate beginnings, let us grow in the belief that with Christ and his love, a new day and a new life come to us.