Fr. Jerome Pistoni sx
During the Easter Time, that lasts 50 days, we are often going to hear this message: Christ is Risen!! He is alive!!
Now I wonder: Which evidence supports our belief that the Lord Jesus is really risen from the dead and is alive today in our midst?
Is it the empty tomb or the testimony of the witnesses who claimed to have seen him and talked with Him?
The empty tomb was only an indication that the body of Jesus was not there anymore.
The empty tomb was the proof of an absence, but not of his resurrection. Mary Magdalene was convinced that the body of Jesus had been stolen, not that he had risen.
What about the testimony of the witnesses?
When the women saw the Lord (according to Matthew's gospel), they immediately went to tell the amazing news to the apostles, who did not believe one word of their story.
If the apostles, who were so near to the Easter events and knew that the witnesses, who were like them disciples of Jesus, were honest people and not liars, and in spite of this they did not believe, which good reason can we find to convince us that Jesus is truly risen?
After the resurrection, something happened that finds a real explanation only in the experience of the encounter with the risen Lord:
the life of the apostles was completely changed and this transformation could not be explained in a human way.
Peter, who had been afraid and had denied Jesus in the garden during Jesus' passion, became bold and had no hesitation to address first the crowds, and later the religious leaders in the Council.
All the apostles who were locked in the Upper room, with the windows and doors barred for fear of the Jews, started to appear in public to speak about the resurrection of Christ.
Peter who had denied the Truth, now proclaimed the truth with energy and wisdom, not counting the risk of his bold words: “You handed over Jesus, you accused the Holy One, you demanded the reprieve of a murderer, you killed the Prince of life”
Peter, an illiterate man did not cower when he was brought before the tribunal of the leaders of the Jews.
The disciples of Jesus were disappointed after seeing the humiliating death of Jesus and they were afraid of the consequences for having been his followers . That’s why some of them run away from Jerusalem. In the gospel of the third Sunday of Easter, the two disciples have re-joined the apostles.
Their fear was replaced by a great Joy.
How was it possible for them to have changed so drastically? Who gave them the wisdom and the courage to come out of the locked room and scatter all over the world to proclaim that the Lord was risen and alive?
The only answer is: they must have seen the Lord, otherwise they would have returned to Galilee to their old job.
We cannot explain their new life unless we admit that behind there must be a strong spiritual experience that freed them of their fears and launched them into the world to proclaim the good news. They have seen the Lord, they have become the witnesses and the evidence that there is a new reality, a new life. This is a very encouraging conclusion which is at the same time quite challenging: does my meeting today with the Risen Lord change my life also? Does my faith really allow me to meet the Lord now? Does it give me the courage to abandon my selfish world in order to reach out to those who do not know Christ yet? Does it make me a courageous and active witness?
Have a nice Sunday.
During the Easter Time, that lasts 50 days, we are often going to hear this message: Christ is Risen!! He is alive!!
Now I wonder: Which evidence supports our belief that the Lord Jesus is really risen from the dead and is alive today in our midst?
Is it the empty tomb or the testimony of the witnesses who claimed to have seen him and talked with Him?
The empty tomb was only an indication that the body of Jesus was not there anymore.
The empty tomb was the proof of an absence, but not of his resurrection. Mary Magdalene was convinced that the body of Jesus had been stolen, not that he had risen.
What about the testimony of the witnesses?
When the women saw the Lord (according to Matthew's gospel), they immediately went to tell the amazing news to the apostles, who did not believe one word of their story.
If the apostles, who were so near to the Easter events and knew that the witnesses, who were like them disciples of Jesus, were honest people and not liars, and in spite of this they did not believe, which good reason can we find to convince us that Jesus is truly risen?
After the resurrection, something happened that finds a real explanation only in the experience of the encounter with the risen Lord:
the life of the apostles was completely changed and this transformation could not be explained in a human way.
Peter, who had been afraid and had denied Jesus in the garden during Jesus' passion, became bold and had no hesitation to address first the crowds, and later the religious leaders in the Council.
All the apostles who were locked in the Upper room, with the windows and doors barred for fear of the Jews, started to appear in public to speak about the resurrection of Christ.
Peter who had denied the Truth, now proclaimed the truth with energy and wisdom, not counting the risk of his bold words: “You handed over Jesus, you accused the Holy One, you demanded the reprieve of a murderer, you killed the Prince of life”
Peter, an illiterate man did not cower when he was brought before the tribunal of the leaders of the Jews.
The disciples of Jesus were disappointed after seeing the humiliating death of Jesus and they were afraid of the consequences for having been his followers . That’s why some of them run away from Jerusalem. In the gospel of the third Sunday of Easter, the two disciples have re-joined the apostles.
Their fear was replaced by a great Joy.
How was it possible for them to have changed so drastically? Who gave them the wisdom and the courage to come out of the locked room and scatter all over the world to proclaim that the Lord was risen and alive?
The only answer is: they must have seen the Lord, otherwise they would have returned to Galilee to their old job.
We cannot explain their new life unless we admit that behind there must be a strong spiritual experience that freed them of their fears and launched them into the world to proclaim the good news. They have seen the Lord, they have become the witnesses and the evidence that there is a new reality, a new life. This is a very encouraging conclusion which is at the same time quite challenging: does my meeting today with the Risen Lord change my life also? Does my faith really allow me to meet the Lord now? Does it give me the courage to abandon my selfish world in order to reach out to those who do not know Christ yet? Does it make me a courageous and active witness?
Have a nice Sunday.