Easter Sunday – The Resurrection of the Lord
One of the greatest joys for us as Christians is the empty tomb, a symbol of the Resurrection. But this was not immediately the case for Jesus’ followers who arrive at the tomb expecting to find the lifeless body of their beloved Lord. In the Gospel of St. John for today, Mary of Magdala gets to the tomb of Jesus only to see the stone removed. She is seized with fear and runs to tell Peter and John. They arrive and see for themselves the empty tomb.
Contrary to their expectations, they do not see death. Death which for ages had the final word over humanity is no more. Christ has triumphed over it bringing to us salvation and a new order. In him, there is no death.
If we are an Easter people, as we say we are, then we must live as though there is no death. This is not to say that we will not suffer from death of human life on this earth or from those moments of death to self. What it does mean is that we will live knowing that death does not have the final say. We live rejoicing and we live in hope for He is risen!