Easter marks the event that changed the course of the history of world civilization. For this is the day when the disciples and followers of Jesus finally realized that their faith in him as Lord and savior has been vindicated.
At this moment, the whole Christian world becomes one and united in the worship of a living God who has conquered the powers of death. And so today, we recall and retell and re-proclaim the stories in the four gospels that narrate the incident surrounding the resurrection of Jesus on this day.
We will focus on the story told to us by John. The gospel of John tells us about the incident of Jesus appearing before his disciples who were then gripped with fear of the Jewish authorities who led in the prosecution of Jesus, and who had demanded for his crucifixion for his blasphemy of claiming to be the son of God.
The disciples feared that these Jewish authorities were out to hunt down the rest of the group that followed Jesus. And so they had to lock the doors of the house. In effect, they were hiding, and nobody was going out for fear of being seen, identified, and arrested for being a follower of Jesus.
Fear for one’s life and safety is a very human response in a situation of crisis. For the disciples, what happened to Jesus on the cross, his brutal, painful, ignominious death, his complete humiliation before the Roman and Jewish authorities was a terrible blow to all their hopes and dreams of a better future. Their hope for liberation from Roman colonial rule, through Jesus as the Messiah, their longing for freedom from their impoverished and exploited conditions had all been shattered.
Their fear was even combined with a feeling of confusion and deep, deep anxiety for the future. They must have been asking themselves: What now? What shall we do now? Where do we go? Shall we just disperse and go back to our original occupation? Shall we just go back to fishing in Galilee, or to farming, carpentry, and forget all about these things, as if nothing had happened to our lives, as if Jesus never came to our lives, as if knowing Jesus never made any difference at all?
Was it even possible for them to return to their old lives after they had encountered Jesus? That was their dilemma that time.
We can compare the behavior of the disciples of Jesus to that of Mary Magdalene who went to the tomb of Jesus early that day only to find the tomb empty.
As the disciples were cowering in fear, hiding and shutting tightly-closed their house for fear of being arrested, Mary went out in the open, going directly to the tomb with not a trace of fear, nor a trace of worry about her own safety.
As the disciples were so concerned about their own safety and security, all that Mary felt was a deep longing to see Jesus. She had missed her Lord and Teacher so much that she wept openly outside the tomb when she found it empty, thinking somebody must have stolen his body.
That is, until the moment when she met the resurrected Jesus who gently called out her name, “Mary!” and she then exclaimed, “Rabboni!, (my Teacher)”.
What a reunion between a faithful and loyal follower and her teacher and master!
She attempted to approach him and perhaps even touch him. But Jesus told her to keep her physical distancing because he now belonged to another realm, the realm of the heavenly Father where he was ascending soon.
Mary must have imagined how she will be able to listen again to his inspiring teachings, how she will be able to sit again at her master’s feet, and be nurtured and empowered by every word he will be saying once again.
But this was not to happen at that moment. This time, Mary was being sent out to become the proclaimer and sharer of the Good News, and not simply the recipient. She was being sent to go back to the rest of the disciples to share with them about Jesus rising from the dead.
How she must have tried to do this with so much excitement and deep joy, having seen and heard once again her beloved master.
However, according to the other gospel writers such as Luke, the disciples reacted to the news from Mary as simply an idle tale, a gossip, wild rumor which did not deserve to be believed as being true, having come from a woman like Mary.
Tradition had not been so kind to Mary Magdalene. Some scholars and commentators even wrongly identify her with that unnamed woman in John 7:53-8:11 who was caught in adultery and was about to be stoned to death, if not for the intervention of Jesus. She has been depicted as a woman of low and questionable morals and shadowy character. But we know that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute nor an adulterer.
In our story, Mary Magdalene’s actuation during those moments in the early hours of the first Easter morning proves once and for all who the real Mary Magdalene was: She was a woman of dignity and decency, a woman with real inner moral and spiritual strength, who could stand her own ground even before the men disciples. She lived with some means as shown by the concrete remains of her house in Magdala in Lower Galilee — which, up to the present, is still there.
Mary Magdalene was a person of deep, authentic faith in Jesus, a woman who was not afraid to actively look for and follow her Lord. She never gave in to the thought of the possible dangers and risks to her own safety in going over to the tomb. All she knew was that she wanted a moment of communion with her Lord and Teacher, even to be beside his dead body, to feel strengthened and encouraged once more in his presence, to feel empowered by this fellowship with Jesus.
On that first Easter day, compared to the disciples cowering in fear, hiding and being scared for their safety, it was Mary Magdalene who rose to a much greater stature as a disciple; the follower who would never let go of her faith in Jesus even with the death of her master, even with the possibility of being persecuted for being a follower of a convicted “criminal and blasphemer”.
Mary Magdalene actually embodies that kind of paradoxical truth about our faith, especially our resurrection faith that we usually regard as weak, as being the ones showing real strength in situations that really matter.
The ones who are rejected, even condemned by society, are usually the ones who are accepted ahead of others. The ones who do not seem to matter, who are normally ignored, are the ones truly valued in the heart of God.
There may be among us who think of themselves as being insignificant. Just remember Mary Magdalene: She ignored whatever people may have said. She ignored what the male disciples may have said. She ignored possible persecution from the authorities. What is most paramount to her was simply being with Jesus. That is all that mattered to her.
In Jesus, Mary Magdalene found hope, she found a truly new possibility in life, a truly new future, and genuine empowerment in the company of the risen Lord.
The male disciples never had this kind of thinking of Mary, as they were only thinking of their own safety, their own interests, their own individual futures. This must have been something very disappointing for Jesus.
But when Jesus appeared to them, and stood in the midst of the fearful and anxious disciples, he did not condemn them nor scold them for their apparent lack of faith and trust. Instead, he passed on to them the peace of God (Shalom Elohim).
For their much fearful hearts and troubled spirits, Jesus gave them the peace which passes all understanding, the kind of peace which overcomes all our fears, all our anxieties, our doubts and insecurities, even anger… it’s the kind of peace which inspires us to trust again in spite and despite the troubles and crisis we may face in the coming days.
This is what Easter means to all those who believe, in spite of our unworthiness, in spite of our fears, in spite of what other people may think of us, in spite of what we may think about ourselves.
Easter offers the hope of new life and a new realization for all who believe, that we are valued and cared for, that we are loved and accepted as we are — more than we can ever imagine.
No matter how the pandemic may have treated us this past year, no matter how we may have been so victimized by this crisis, no matter how tragic has been our experience of this pandemic, we have a God who is alive and is with us, and for us, and will always empower to enable us to overcome.
This realization is made even more significant by another element that comes at the end of our text. That is, after the risen Jesus had passed on to them the peace of God, he also gave to them the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In the gospel of John, we have a combination of the events of Easter, as well as Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit.
As far as John is concerned, it is already Pentecost when the risen Lord appeared to the disciples, and gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit. As far as John is concerned, the church was organized and sent to go out empowered already by the Holy Spirit, to go out and do the work of the church the moment Jesus appeared to the disciples as their risen Lord.
There is no break, there is no more waiting period of 50 days. Easter is itself Pentecost.
The rising of Jesus from the dead and conquering death is itself the source of the spirit that empowers those who believe, the spirit that sends us out to witness to the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus, the spirit that makes us feel loved and accepted as we are, the spirit that gives us hope and strength to carry on even in these days of trouble, fear, and much insecurity.
This is one truth that breaks boundaries and upholds the paradoxes of our faith, that those who are considered outsiders are now brought in and placed at the center, that those who are considered of “low status” are now the ones upheld and honored before the throne of God, that those who weep, especially those who have lost their loved ones in this pandemic, are now the ones being truly comforted, and those considered weak and of no account are now the ones being regarded with real strength that matters.
