Homily: Easter Sunday Year ABC
By His Resurrection He Opens for Us the
Way to a New Life of Hope (A)
Fr. Udoekpo, Michael Ufok
v Acts 10:34a, 37-43
v Ps 118:1-2, 16-17,
22-23
v Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor
5:6b-8
v Matt 28:1-9; Mark16:1-8;
Luke 24:13-35; John 20:1-9
Coronavirus
or no Coronavirus, the psalmist is so re-assuring that “This is the day that the Lord has made; let
us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps 118:24). Let us sing Alleluia, for the Lord has
risen! Before the event of the Lord’s resurrection today, and over the Triduum,
you and I faithfully traveled a long way with the events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday,
in spite of the stress and the agony of the ongoing pandemic!
Through
Christ’s death on that Good Friday, he liberates us from sin and teaches us how
to endure death, and bear sufferings with hope of the resurrection. Through his resurrection today, Christ guarantees
us eternal life. He opens for us the way to a new life of grace and freedom (CCC
654)—this is the new yeast or fresh batch of dough that Paul speaks of in the second
reading (1 Cor 5:6b-8). Christ transforms us from all forms of darkness—social,
economic, religious, and cultural—to a light of peace, joy, and justice. Christ
brings hope out of the rejection, mockery, intimidation, and colonialism under
Pilate, abuse, oppression, bullying, illnesses, pandemics, false accusations,
and seeming defeat of Good Friday. Christ transforms that which is below to that
which is above (Col 3:1-4).
What would
Christianity have been without the truth of the resurrection? Our worship
today, where ever you are (in your room, homes, by your TV, Radio etc;) would
be meaningless if everything ended on Palm Sunday or Good Friday. It would be
meaningless if our observance was limited to the celebration of our Lord’s Passion,
the Stations of the Cross, or the five Sorrowful Mysteries. Our faith would be
meaningless without the joyful and glorious mysteries—without Christ’s victory over
death, as Saint Paul says in 1 Corinthian 15:14-17. Our preaching, homilies, sermons,
songs, and hymns today and these days on social media, would be useless. Our faith
would be in vain. We would be like a sheep without a shepherd. If everything ended
with the red vestments of Good Friday, we wouldn’t put on the golden and white vestments
we wear today. If everything ended with the bare and undecorated altar of Good Friday,
we wouldn’t have this beautifully decorated altar, the joyful song of Gloria, the
ringing of the bell, and all that they stand for. In other words, this Corona
virus pandemic will surely come to pass and we will soon bear witness to this. God will raise us out of the darkness of this virus as he had raised his Son Jesus from the tomb!
Thanks
be to God! Our Lord has been raised from the dead. Alleluia! Peter, the foremost
of Christ’s disciples, bears personal witness to this event in the first reading
(Acts 10:34a, 37-43) and encourages us to do the same in our families, communities,
neighborhoods, parishes, and dioceses. Peter unequivocally, says,
You know the message he sent to the people of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread
throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he
went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God
was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in
Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him
on the third day and allowed him to appear . . . to us who . . . ate and drank
with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach . . . All the
prophets testify about him.
Apart from
Peter and Paul, all four Evangelists bear strong witness to the resurrection (Matt
28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21). In today’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene, filled with
great love for Christ, came to the empty tomb of the risen Jesus on the first day
of the week, when it was still dark (John 20:1-9). She found the stone rolled away.
Like the Samaritan woman in John 4, she reacted quickly, running back to inform
Peter and the other disciples. Her actions set the tone for how we must celebrate
today, and how we must react when we encounter Christ in our family members, in
the songs we sing, in the Eucharist we share, in the Covid-19 victims we meet,
and in the poor and the immigrants to whom we reach out.
I
further find it interesting that Mary Magdalene initially says to Peter, “They
have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid
him” (John 20:2). She initially thought Christ’s body had been stolen, but she would
eventually come to faith in the resurrection. Even “the denying Peter,” who had
run away from the scene of Jesus’ trial, is now a transformed Peter, a new Peter.
Upon hearing Mary’s news, he runs to the tomb. Though the other disciple is the
first to arrive, Peter is the first to embrace the burial cloth in Jesus’ empty
tomb.
Where are
you running to or from on this Easter Sunday? To whom do we reach out to
support with hope during this pandemic? What do you do with the news of the resurrection?
What does the empty tomb say to you? Whose resurrection testimony episode do
you most relate to: Peter, Paul, or Mary Magdalene’s?
Mary Magdalene
could be seen as a disciple who not only genuinely loved and searched for Jesus,
but was attached to Jesus. Remember, she knew him as the truth, the light, the way,
the Bread of Life, and the source of eternal salvation. Like Mary, we are called
not only to believe but to bear witnesses to our faith wherever we find ourselves
each day with new zeal, joy, and energy. Peter had once stumbled, but he made it
to sainthood.
That you
are sick today does not mean that you cannot get well tomorrow. That corona virus is ravaging today does not
mean with time its containment or mitigation is not possible. That you have been
laid off from your job does not mean that all doors are closed to you. That you
once doubted the resurrection or any aspect of your faith—that you have stumbled
like Peter did—does not mean you cannot turn things around. Where Christ is, there
is always a change from below to above—from Good Friday to Easter, and from sorrow
to joy!
As we celebrate
this year’s Easter under the shadow of pandemic, may our faith be strengthened by
the transforming power of Christ’s resurrection and be reassured that, by his resurrection,
he opens for us the way to a new life!
Reflection
Questions:
1. What
does Christ’s resurrection mean for you? How do you share this with members of your
faith community, particularly those heavily hit by Covid-19?
2. Like
Christ’s disciples, to where are you running on this Easter Sunday?
3. In this time of pandemic what does the empty tomb
say to you? Whose resurrection testimony do you most relate to: Peter, Paul, or
Mary Magdalene’s?
4. To
whom do we reach out to support with hope during this pandemic?
