April 11, 2004

They both ran

Jesus’ followers raced to the empty tomb in hope and experienced a renewal of life.

April 11, 2004, Easter Sunday
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9

Mary Magdalene started a race. Her slow, sad journey to the tomb, loaded down with the spices and linens necessary to complete the task of properly burying Jesus, ended in futility. There was no body in the tomb.

She quite reasonably surmised that someone had taken Jesus from the tomb. She did not keep this information to herself. Instead, she ran to wake up “Peter and the other disciple Jesus loved.” That’s when the race started. One might ask, why the hurry?

It was not in order to catch the thieves in the act. The tomb was already empty. It was not because they did not believe Mary. Usually people who don’t believe what they hear go to see for themselves with a deliberateness that drags out the agony for the person they deem untrustworthy. Most likely they wanted to believe Mary with every fiber of their being.

Running was therapy. Not long before, Peter had run in the wrong direction. Discovered lurking in the high priest’s courtyard, he had to lie his way out of trouble, denying three times he even knew Jesus. He didn’t wait for a fourth person to recognize him. Sorrowful and afraid, he ran into the night. Mary’s news, if true, could bring him redemption. He needed to see if indeed he had a second chance.

The beloved disciple is another story. Most Scripture scholars now think he is a disciple other than John. If so, it would be someone who ran from the authorities at the Garden of Olives. He wouldn’t even have Peter’s excuse that at least he had the audacity to sneak into the high priest’s house at a time they were looking to arrest all of Jesus’ followers.

Even John himself would need to erase the horrible memory of holding Mary up during the long twilight journey from the tomb to the safe house where she was lodging in Jerusalem.

The race to the tomb was about renewal of life. The runners disregarded the likelihood that the guards would arrest them, even as they had tried two days earlier. For the Magdalene’s word echoed within them. Maybe Jesus’ prediction of his resurrection was to be taken literally. So they both ran. Nor did they ever stop. Forevermore they continued to hasten toward new life.

The key to death

Christ is the way from tomb to resurrection.

April 18, 2004, second Sunday of Easter
Acts 5:12-16
Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Revelation 1:9-19
John 20:19-31

If someone told you there was a key that could open the door that leads one out of death, you’d be hard pressed to believe him or her. In the second reading John tells us he heard just that in a vision. We could believe that. Surely it was a dream and had some psychological or theological significance that a psychiatrist or a spiritual writer might unfold.

Thomas probably thought along those lines when his colleagues told him they had witnessed the Lord. Maybe they were prophesying some mystic way Jesus might be communicating to them from beyond the grave. But certainly no one comes back from the dead. Thomas knew of no keys that could unlock the door to life on earth for someone who has departed this life.

That was the issue for one long week between Thomas and the other 10. Those who had actually seen and spoken to the risen Christ tried every way possible to persuade Thomas. The lines of the argument were no doubt clearly drawn. Thomas had logic and human experience strongly on his side. To his credit, Thomas stayed the week with these people he loved but thought deluded. On the other side, all the others could only repeat their eyewitness reports. The disciples from Emmaus, Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the beloved disciple all had their stories.

Thomas had no trouble trumping them at every juncture. Thomas could relate all their personal experiences to their need for forgiveness and their strong hope, based on Jesus’ message of eternal life. At best, he would counter, they were the beneficiaries of a great prophetic vision much like Isaiah’s or Elijah’s. What they “saw” was purely symbolic.

Everything changed the following Sunday, as Thomas was transformed from an intellectual to a witness. He experienced for himself an encounter with Christ. Death does have an escape hatch. Jesus has the keys, and we can see him here on earth.

Each of us is a Thomas. We can live as Thomas did during Easter week, as sophisticated Christians. Or we can become what Thomas became, witnesses to the Resurrection. To be the latter, we must see the risen Christ. He is there to be found. Close encounters with the Lord abound. Look and you will be changed.

Father Brando is pastor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland.

Weekday readings