Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Colossians 3:1-4 [Or] 1^st Corinthians 5:6b-8 John 20:1-9

The Liturgy of the Word for Easter Sunday, at any Mass after the Great Vigil of Easter, is a continuation of the proclamation of Christ’s Resurrection and Victory over death and sin. The festive quality of this day cannot be over-emphasized. This is not a day for minimal liturgy. All the liturgical talents, gifts and ministerial functions of a parish ought to be engaged. Indeed, hymns, psalms, alleluias, even orations, scripture texts, and dismissals, can be sung if the talent is available and well-prepared. Absent both sufficient clergy and lay ministers (of music, word, communion and hospitality) there is no healthy way to festively celebrate Mass. This may sound harsh to some, but it is crucial if the Church’s liturgy is indeed “the source and summit” of all Church life as the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council taught. There is an apt story about how the Czar of Russia made the choice between the Orthodox and Catholic Traditions when he and all of Russia were about to embrace the Gospel. Legend has it that he sent emissaries to both Rome and Constantinople to observe the worship in both Traditions. Rome was not at it’s finest hour, but indeed, Constantinople was. Hence, the report of great and powerful liturgy was what convinced the Czar to embrace the Orthodox Tradition. While legendary, the principle of “Lex orandi, lex credendi!” (Translated: What we pray is what we believe!) makes the story believable! Who would want to join us if our worship of the God of Love and Life is less than fully engaging, nourishing, and intelligent?!

Today’s first lesson is from Acts 10 (why most of the chapter has been amputated is difficult to comprehend). It is an eloquent and powerful account (nonetheless) of the conversion of the household of a Roman named Cornelius, and of how the Holy Spirit moved Jew and Gentile alike to embrace the Gospel message of the recently Risen Christ. This chapter hearkens the end of the practice of ritual purity and the beginning of the great Gentile influx into the early Gospel community. It foreshadows the beginning of the great divergence of Christianity from cultural and religious Judaism. It contains a profound lesson about what might be seen as a divine willingness to change any cultural, religious practice (values, biases, customs, traditions) for the sake of constructive evolutionary application of the Gospel in order that all people might hear and embrace Christ’s saving message. A crucial principle of evangelization is, Culture incarnates the Gospel and the Gospel critiques Culture. Hence, the Gospel message can only be lived concretely in a genuine cultural setting, and simultaneously, all aspects of any given culture are subject to Gospel change when appropriate for creative, constructive and life-giving purpose. Every cultural institution is subject to the Gospel’s critique and demand for healthy growth and change, even the culture of the Church! Have you ever thought about what constructive changes might be made in the Church for the sake of hearing and living the Gospel more effectively?! Acts 10 is about profound changes in religious beliefs and behaviors which the previous generation of God’s Chosen People had held to be absolutely essential and necessary. Yes, even our religious beliefs must change and evolve as we mature, or we will stagnate! With God, nothing is impossible!

The second lesson today offers a choice between two texts (properly made by the homilist), each addressed to Christians wondering about the consequences of having been baptized. The text from Colossians exhorted the audience to consider noble and heroic virtues (“what is above”) in how they behaved as newly baptized. The Gospel critique of the lived culture sanctified the various ordinary aspects of their lives, or so Paul asserted. How one behaved as a man or woman, husband or wife, parent or child, brother or sister, neighbor or friend, associate – even how one was an adversary in a dispute against another Christian – all these actions were lubricated by God’s Grace. The Gospel’s purpose was then (and is still) to sanctify all life-tasks as befits a holy people. The alternate text, from 1^st Corinthians, was aimed at Jewish Christians in 50s AD Corinth. It referred to the domestic disposal of old yeast and the beginning of a new starter batch of dough in the household kitchen, a significant event at the Jewish Passover time. Yeast was a metaphor for the effect each believer had in the community. Again, the Grace of Baptism – one’s embrace of and commitment to the Gospel – sanctified each and every aspect of the disciples’ lives. The messages of these two epistle texts are very similar. The images used as examples are different.

The Gospel of Easter Day is John’s account of the first visitors to the tomb on the original Easter morning. The lectionary cycle uses each Synoptic account for a Vigil Liturgy of the Word (we used Luke last night for Year C), and then proposes John’s Resurrection Narrative for Easter Day the way John’s Passion Narrative is always proclaimed on Good Friday.

According to all four Gospel accounts of Easter morning, Mary Magdalene was the principal character in the discovery of the opened and empty tomb. Precisely what had happened became clear only gradually. None among Jesus’ disciples grasped and expected Resurrection in spite of it’s mention by Jesus in his Passion Predictions. None of them had removed Jesus’ body from the tomb. Jewish burial custom included visiting the newly closed tomb for prayer. To discover an empty tomb – with or without mysterious individuals in dazzling garments or the burial cloths neatly arranged on the side – was a shock, impossible to comprehend. John’s account is very simple ... an opened and empty tomb ... hurry and go to report to Simon Peter with an assumed explanation (“They have taken him ...”) ... Peter and “the other disciple” hasten to see for themselves. The upshot was faith without much understanding. In John’s account, the story continued (20:11-18) with the Magdalene’s return to the tomb where she individually encountered the Risen Jesus, at first without recognizing him. Once she was allowed (!!!) to perceive his true identity, it started to become clear that Resurrection was a reality and that Jesus’ worldly Presence had changed significantly. This text witnesses to theological reflection in process: faith seeking understanding (the classical definition of theological reflection). Mary Magdalene became the Risen Lord’s first “apostle” when he sent her to tell the others that he was ascending. The definition of “apostle” was someone who (a) had encountered the Risen Lord Jesus and (b) had been sent by him on a Gospel mission. Hence, the Magdalene, in spite of her maligned reputation by the ignorant, was arguably the first to announce the Resurrection. Ten of the Twelve (Judas was dead and Thomas was absent) and some other disciples encountered the Risen Jesus for themselves that first Easter night, and did so again a week later, as John’s account relates (20:19-29). The Gospel lesson at Mass each weekday for Easter Week will relate the various Resurrection Appearances remembered in all four canonical Gospels.

It is impossible to describe what Resurrection actually is in human terms. The Gospel accounts describe, rather, what Resurrection entailed, i.e., what effect it had in the person of the Risen Jesus and in the lives of the disciples whom he met on or after Easter. All changed profoundly. What had been ordinary in their lives became extraordinary. Their unremarkable human virtues became bold, peace-filled, and significant examples that moved some of them to abandon their former lives in order to announce a hope and confidence which had been hitherto unimaginable. Easter and it’s season of 50 days is the way the Church remembers such change. Can we change today? Yes, we can! How? By living the Gospel in ways wise and thoughtful, thankful and generous, prayerful and peace-building, joyful and compassionate. Our faith is meant to be attractive for good, healthy, wise and intelligent human reasons. We seek the Gospel and it’s God not out of fear of judgment and condemnation, but in hope of Salvation both here and now, and in the age to come!

If you have participated in the liturgies from Palm Sunday, through the Triduum, to today, you might feel both exhausted and exhilarated. That’s precisely what happens to witnesses of the powerful proclamation of “Christ is Risen!” Thus, begins the 50 Days of the Easter Season!

Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!