Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery, Grahamstown, South Africa
Brother John Forbis, OHC
RCL – Easter Day C - Sunday 08 April 2007
St. Peter on the Rock
When I really reflect on this day, I realise just how amazing it is and at the same time just how difficult it is to preach on. On a day like today, one doesn’t want to get too sentimental or present such warm platitudes that are meaningless, especially since in the last few days, we have faced some stark realities. Jesus suffered terribly and died the death of a criminal. Peter was left with his denials and tears. Mary was left with her own sorrow and loneliness, and the rest of the disciples were left with their hopes dashed and their devastation. And I can identify with each of them or all of them at different times.
So it is in this context that we come with the women to a tomb. We watch these women do the only thing they know to do when faced with death: they come to clean and dress the body. Like the millions of women we have known in so many cultures including our own, they come to mourn and clean and dress a body. These women face death every day of their lives – head on. Death is possibly more real to these women than it is to all of us, complete and absolute, final. They aren’t in any denial about it.
But they come and encounter something entirely different – something completely unexpected, something completely impossible, something terrifying in the face of death. Again they do the only thing they know to do – fall down and bow their heads. And on this day, we all hear an amazing question. The question is at the crux of our life, our whole purpose, and at the heart of Jesus’ teachings. Why do we look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not at the tomb. He is not anywhere to be found for that matter. The only people here are just these two men, telling us to remember … to remember.
All that seems right or proper becomes suddenly nonsensical. What used to make sense doesn’t. What we used to expect we can’t anymore. What used to be the right place at the right time is now the wrong place at the wrong time. And we are perplexed, faced with an empty tomb and two men in dazzling clothes telling us to remember, to remember what God has done and is capable of doing for us even when death seems to be the final answer. What an amazing day! What a day to rejoice! What a terrifying day! What a day to certainly sing a new song! We have an empty tomb, no Jesus, no proof, not even logic but faith is born on this day and the message begins to spread.
We listened to the readings in the lounge – our salvation story by candle light. We have heard from Paul about death being the last enemy that is overcome – that yes, we die through Adam; that is real, but we are made alive through Christ. With all that God has done and will continue to do for us, indeed, why would we look for the living among the dead?
Why would we accept the defeat of despair and hopelessness? Why tolerate the terrible cruelties, injustices and the seemingly meaningless movement of history as some historians in our own century have called it? Why tolerate the powerful forces that would seek to destroy? Why look to depravity for life?
The Angels tell us to remember and that remembrance introduces a restlessness into our being. We can no longer easily accept the world as it is. God’s power, completely alien to us, is real and present and so we are compelled to long, to hope, to strive, to live.
We live by spreading the good news. We are welcomed by welcoming others. We feed by feeding others. We believe by believing in each other. We live by offering ourselves. This is how we are resurrected.
Death comes by a human being, but life comes by a human being and offers that life to us in the very midst of death. With that life is the promise of what will be. Because it is God’s promise as we have heard throughout this Triduum, it is true. Because we now have possibility, we now have promise. Because Resurrection has broken into human history we enact its reality and truth and spread the message. Yes, it is an incredible day! We come to a tomb with our spices expecting to tend to a dead body only to find LIFE itself.
Br. John Forbis, OHC
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