Jesus Rises from the Dead

Catholic presentation

The first glorious mystery

Do you ever feel the day has got off to a bad start?  Even when you know things are really OK?  Well a lot of the people that this scene calls to mind, are about to have a rough morning!  We often get carried away with the sheer triumph of the resurrection and forget how it was for the people at the time.

The guards won't have slept on duty, but things will have been pretty quiet all night in the grave yard.  Then suddenly the calm is broken, the tomb-stone rolls away and Jesus appears (we imagine) in blinding light.  However it was, we can be pretty sure they're terrified.

For the Jewish authorities it's a nightmare, they'll soon be falling over one another to cover up events.  When you're having a bad morning, you sometimes don't notice that something bigger than your own troubles is taking place.

And then there's Jesus' followers who come on the scene a little later.  Their world has been turned upside down by Jesus' arrest and crucifixion, only a week after a triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  They're currently struggling with their own thoughts and feelings, and fearing a terrifying backlash.  In just a little while though, maybe no more than half an hour, their world is about to be turned upside down again, as the news of Jesus' resurrection spreads.  We rightly celebrate the joy of Easter, but it's easy to forget that the time was a hectic one for most of the people involved.

And of course everyone assumes that Jesus rises like the morning sun, and everything is just wonderful for Him.  And in a sense it is.  Our divine Lord is now in His resurrected and glorious form: Almighty and make no mistake about it!  But I'm not so sure that Jesus, perfect as he is, finds everything on earth like heaven.  Before I follow that line of though further, allow me a small detour.

It used to concern me that when Mary Magdalene eventually recognises Jesus outside the tomb, He tells her not to touch Him.  The reason He gives is that He's not ascended to the Father yet (John 20:17).  I couldn't make sense of it.  Was He feeling delicate after the execution, and the full effect of resurrection takes a while longer?  That idea doesn't work: not only has Jesus already been 'down to the dead' to preach the gospel there (1 Cor 15:20, Apostles creed, ccc 637), but tradition holds that He did it all 'in the flesh'.  No small feat requiring more than a little get up and go!  Yet his reference to not having ascended yet, implied there was something more to the matter.

Perhaps it was something to do with Jewish customs around death?  Or perhaps something to do with resurrection energy?  I doubt that.  Perhaps then it was something to do with 'due process in Heaven'?  Again, probably not: this time Thomas disproves the theory.  I've no idea for sure, but the best bet seems to be a reference to a more personal sphere.  Probably Jesus is trying to tell Mary Magdalene that He can't stay around much, so she musn't get too attached.  More modern translations say 'don't cling to me' rather than just touch.  Mary thinks Jesus has returned for good, but He has to be moving on.  Even if being resurrected feels great, He'll be anticipating all His followers sadness when He has to leave them again.  In other words, He's saying, don't get your hopes up - this is very temporary.

But I was talking about people having a bad start to the day.  Jesus is now in a glorious form.  So powerful that He descended to the dead 'in the flesh' and justly saved those who'd gone before.  Yet there will probably have been those who wouldn't qualify and had to stay behind.  Sadness perhaps?  There's a tricky one.  Heaven's a joyous place, but the apparitions of Mary the Mother of God to the children of Fatima, show concern about people who fall into Hell.  Even in a joyous heaven then, there's room for concern.

But as they say, 'a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do', and women too.  Jesus has to move on, and wisely Mary Magdalene does as she's told - goes to tell the good news to the other disciples.  And there begins their challenge.  Who will believe her witness that our Lord has conquered death.  That He is risen!  It's a challenge for all of us.  Do we believe the witness of the Church today, what we read in the Bible, what we see in Jesus films (or should I say used to see, as the TV companies don't show them much these days).  More importantly, do we believe it enough to change our habits and follow His way?  Do we take up our cross?  Tricky one that!  How about another one - follow the Ten Commandments?

The Devil knew he'd lost the battle as soon as Jesus died on the cross.  But the others take longer to catch on.  Famously Thomas takes a while.  But 2,000 years later, many still hover around the 'not sure' category.  What can we do?  Well, if the doubt is the same as 2,000 years ago, then the answer might be the same too.  Mary said it in Cana: 'do whatever He tells you to' (John 2:5).  And in between instructions, perhaps we should do as the Apostles did while waiting in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit:

Acts 1:14 All of them with one heart joined in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.