In the beautiful hymn before today’s Gospel we hear, Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere! “We know that Christ is truly risen from the dead!” This is the beautiful grace of the mystery we celebrate today. The witness of those who saw all the violence poured out upon Jesus on Good Friday, who felt the weight of His dead body as they lowered it from the Cross, who carefully buried Him; by the witness of these followers of Jesus who were sure that He was gone and that they would not see Him anymore in this life; by these witnesses who were heart broken and terrified at the sight of the tomb being empty on the third day; these witnesses who did not expect the Resurrection were the ones whom Jesus chose to bear testimony to Him that He lives once more. Thanks to their witness, and the Risen Lord’s continued confirmation of their testimony down through the ages, we can know that Christ is truly risen from the dead. The hands pierced for our offenses are touched by the disciples. The face beaten and scourged is now heard to say to the frightened: “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19)
This knowledge has been passed on to us. Yet, just like the first disciples, we too need time to grow in this knowledge. The Gospel today reminds us that upon first encountering the empty tomb, the disciples do not think that Christ has anything to do with it. They need time to cease letting sorrow and fear get in the way of Jesus’ desire to show them His concrete victory over sin and death. Thankfully, the Church gives us a whole eight days, an octave, to sit squarely with the disciples’ first phase of coming to know the truth of the Resurrection, sheer shock and disbelief. This week, let us indeed seek to grow in our knowledge that Christ is Risen from the dead. Yet, let us also not be surprised if the Lord is as patient with us as He was with the first disciples in meeting them in the midst of experiences very far from Easter joy, and leading them step by step to realizing His Presence.
“…fearful, yet overjoyed…” were the Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in this initial coming to know that Jesus was truly risen from the dead. (Mt 28:8) One might complain that the Gospel is presenting something difficult to understand in this description of the hearts of these early witnesses. How can a person at the same time be both fearful, and overjoyed?
Yet, the Gospel does not seem worried about making the Resurrection palatable or easy to comprehend. It simply sets the unsettling truth before us. Putting oneself in the place of each Mary for a moment, one might indeed sympathize with their fear. After all that had happened in the preceding days of Jesus’ arrest, trial, torture and execution, they would have had fear enough for quite some time. But in addition to that, and in contrast to that, they are now confronted with the world-upending experience of a grave which they had just used to bury Jesus now being empty. If the body of someone so thoroughly killed coming back to life does not make one scared, then perhaps one has not yet let the nature of the event sink in. These women properly appreciated the terrifying nature of an empty tomb.
Yet, they had also heard from those at the tomb the proclamation (or the reminder of Jesus’ own promises) that Jesus had risen. This most shocking event does not concern a stranger, but their dear friend, whom they had known and accompanied for years. Who clearly loved them, and whom they loved. The proclamation of His bodily return from death (terrifying though it was), would surely bring joy to the heart. In our experience, joy does not normally go with fear. In the experience of Mary and Mary, the dead do not normally rise. Let us ask for the grace to face this mystery as they did, and to lift up to the Lord our hearts with all the movements we sense in them.