NEW LIFE WITH JESUS
The Easter celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a call to a new life with Christ Jesus: our Lord and Saviour who has risen from the dead. It occurs always at the season of spring when new life blossom and flourish in all of nature around us. “Easter” literally means “the feast of fresh flowers.” Easter is the greatest and the most important feast in the Church for four reasons:
It is a new life that calls us from darkness to light, evil to good, hatred to love, guilt to innocence, sad to joy, despair to hope, fears to faith, worries to peace, pride to humility and victims to victors.
Our Easter experience frees us from enslavement to sin, death, evil and Satan. So we are now invited to renew our baptismal promises. Reject darkness, evil and sin in every shape and form. And promise to follow Jesus Christ from now on, in a life of light, goodness and love. A life shaped by his powerful example, a life supported and guided by the Holy Spirit, whom he first gave us at baptism and whom he gives us again right now.
OUR THEME
The resurrection is deeply mysterious and we can’t quite experience its original impact in the hearts of Jesus´ followers. The only evidence of the resurrection to them was that the tomb was empty. However, the Risen Christ was experienced on the personal and communal level of faith.
I love this Nigerian Easter praise song: “Magnify” by Mercy Oseghale that goes like this:
“My soul does magnify the Lord,
and my spirit praises his name,
for death could not hold him captive,
even in the grave, Jesus is Lord,
for death could not hold him captive,
even in the grave, Jesus is Lord.”
This is the victory of Easter that we celebrate in Christ Jesus: Our Saviour and Our Lord, who conquer and reign over all things in the heavens, on the earth and beneath the earth to glory and praise of God the Father through the Holy Spirit.
The readings of this Easter Sunday invite us to reflect on the reality of Christ´s resurrection and the commissioning effect to be his witnesses as the people of the resurrection.
FIRST READING: ACTS OF THE APOSTLES10:34, 37-43
In Acts of the Apostles10:34, 37-43, St. Peter through the power of the Resurrected Christ gave a first handed testimony to what they saw, heard and lived: the life, healing, preaching and teaching ministry of Christ, his passion, death and resurrection that made them authentic witnesses of the gospel of Christ.
Therefore, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we meet today with those first Christians who were the “community of the Risen Jesus”. The passage that we read today is the testimony of Peter, in the house of the pagan Cornelius, about the resurrection of Christ
SECOND READING: COLOSSIANS 3:1-4
In the epistle to Colossians 3:1-4, St. Paul explains to us the total effect or implication of Christ’s resurrection. “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” That is, our hearts, our personal life, our existence, our faith and Christian life and activities must be oriented in the Resurrected Christ.
Indeed, the foundation of the Christian life is identification with Easter, that is, the passage from death to life that has occurred in Christ Jesus who died and rose again for our salvation. Through baptism, we have been buried with Christ, and have risen with Him.
THE GOSPEL: JOHN 20:1-9
The gospel of John 20:1-9 gives the account of the eye-witness of Mary Magdalene, the first person to know of the Risen Christ. Follow by the experience of Simon Peter and John the Apostle. It is very important to note here that the resurrection of Christ is both a personal and a communal experience.
JESUS’ VICTORY IS FOREVER OVER:
1. Satan, his demons and evil spirit. Col. 2:15, John 12:31, 1 John 3:8 Eph. 1:20-21
2. Death: spiritual, physical, and all forms of death and grave. Rev. 1:18,
3. Sins and their consequences. Rom. 6:10, Hebs. 10:1-10
4. Evil of any kind John 16:33, Rev. 12:11, Eph. 6:10-18 Col. 1:12-13, Luke 10:19
Yet, it is the victory that makes us ALLELUIA people. People of hope and praise. Above all. People of testimony and authentic witnessing among all.
SIGNIFICANCE OF EASTER:
1. The Resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian Faith. It is the greatest of the miracles, for it proves that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain” (I Cor 15:14). “Jesus is Lord, He is risen” (Rom 10:9), was the central theme of the kerygma (or “preaching”), of the Apostles
2. Easter is the guarantee of our resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live even though he dies…” (Jn 11:25-26).
3. Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It also gives us strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears.
4. Easter gives meaning to our prayers: It supports our belief in the Real Presence of the Risen Jesus in and around us, in His Church, in the Blessed Sacrament, and in Heaven, hearing our prayers, and so gives meaning to our personal as well as our communal prayers.
REASONS WHY WE BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
(1) Jesus himself testified to his Resurrection from the dead, giving it as a sign of his divinity. (Mk 8:31; Mt 17:22; Lk 9:22). Tear down this temple and in three days I will build it again” (Jn 2: 19).
(2) The tomb was empty on Easter Sunday (Lk 24:3). Although the guards claimed (Mt 28:13), that the disciples of Jesus had stolen the body, every sensible Jew knew that it would have been impossible for the terrified disciples of Jesus to steal the body of Jesus from a tomb guarded by an armed, 16-member Roman Guard detachment.
(3) The initial disbelief of Jesus’ disciples in Jesus’ Resurrection, despite His repeated apparitions, serves as strong proof of His Resurrection. Their initial disbelief explains why the Apostles started preaching the Risen Christ only after receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
(4) The transformation of Jesus’ disciples: Jesus’ Resurrection and the anointing of the Holy Spirit transformed men who were hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion (Lk 24:21, Jn 20:19), into men who now were confident, bold witnesses to the Resurrection (Acts 2:24, 3:15, 4:2), powerfully preaching the Risen Lord.
(5) Neither the Jews nor the Romans could disprove Jesus’ Resurrection by presenting the dead body of Jesus.
(6) The Apostles and early Christians would not have fearlessly preached Christ as Saviour and faced martyrdom if they were not sure of Jesus’ Resurrection.
(7) The Apostle Paul’s conversion from a persecutor of Christians to a zealous preacher of Jesus supports the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection (Gal 1:11-17, Acts 9:1, Acts 9:24-25, Acts 26:15-18).
(8) The sheer existence of a thriving, empire-conquering early Christian Church, bravely facing and surviving three centuries of persecution, supports the truth of the Resurrection claim.
(9) The New Testament witnesses do not bear the stamp of dupes or deceivers. The Apostles and the early Christians were sure about the Resurrection of Jesus.
PRACTICAL LIFE MESSAGES OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
a. Let us live the lives of Resurrection people: We are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits, dangerous addictions, despair, discouragement or doubts. Instead, we are expected to live joyful and peaceful lives, constantly experiencing the living presence of the Risen Lord Who loves us in all the events of our lives and amid the boredom, suffering, pain, and tensions of our day-to-day life.
b. The conviction of the real presence of the Risen Lord with us, within us, and all around us, enables us to lead disciplined Christian lives. This conviction of Faith will help us to control our thoughts, desires, words, behaviour and actions.
c. The salutary awareness of the presence of the Risen Lord within us will inspire us to honour our bodies, keeping them holy, pure, and free from evil habits and addictions. Our conviction that the loving presence of the Risen Lord dwells in our neighbours and in all those we encounter, should encourage us to respect them and to render them loving, humble and selfless service.
d. We need to become transparent Christians, radiating the Risen Lord around us in the form of selfless and sacrificial agape love, mercy, compassion, and the spirit of humble service. Each time we try to practice Christian charity, mercy, and forgiveness, and each time we fight against temptations, we share in the Resurrection of Jesus.
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, as we sing the Easter song of victory and glory: Alleluia! Help us to acclaim, appropriate and apply to our life, our history and conditions your victory and glory over sins, guilt, shame, death, evil, demons, evil spirits and Satan. May the power of the risen Christ in all its glory, beauty and power dispel the darkness of sin, death and satanic domination over us, our families, societies, communities, churches and nations. Amen. Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Alleluia! Amen.
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