"Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb" ( Mk. 16:3). The reality, my dear friends, of a sealed tomb preventing the Holy Women from anointing the lifeless body of the Master, Jesus, was certainly of great concern to them as they made their way " in the morning of the first day of the week" (Mk. 16:2), to do what Jewish custom required be done to the body of a deceased person, namely to anoint it with spices. Their friend Jesus, the Master, had been hurriedly buried and there had been little time to carry out the normal rituals of preparing the body for burial. There was a stone to contend with. There would also be the guards who had been placed to guard the tomb lest, as his enemies had suggested, the disciples might come and take away the body and then say that he had risen from the dead. They knew that Jesus had said that after three days he would rise again. As the women neared the tomb where he had been laid they were astonished: " When they looked they could see that the stone - which was very big - had already been rolled back. As for the guards they were nowhere to be seen. They were astonished. Great was their relief when they were told by an angel: " There is no need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him. But you must go and tell his disciples and Peter ' He is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him, just as he told you' "(Mk. 16: 6-7). Mary of Magdala was one of the women who went to the tomb, she who had been healed from sin by Jesus in response to her gesture of love for Him by washing His feet with her tears and anointing them. She ran to Peter and John: " They have taken the Lord out of the tomb", she said, "and we don't know where they have put him" ( Jn. 20:2). Peter and John rushed to the open tomb and verified for themselves that the body of the Lord was indeed no longer there. Saint John in his Gospel account of what Peter and he found in the tomb is very precise. It was sufficient to convince him that indeed the Lord was risen. They " saw the linen cloths on the ground and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself"( Jn. 20:6-7). This detail of the binding cloth of the head " rolled up in place by itself " indicated that the burial linen and cloths had not been discarded but that indeed the Body of the Lord had risen from those very cloths, leaving them exactly in the place where His head and body had lain. And so John says: "he saw and believed"( Jn. 20:8) and he adds: " Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead" ( Jn. 20:9). The sequence of the Easter Mass puts this reality of the burial-cloths quite vividly: "Tell us Mary: say what you saw upon the way. The tomb of the living did enclose; I saw Christ's glory as he rose! The angels were attesting; shroud with grave-clothes resting. Christ, my hope, has risen; he goes before you into Galilee" ( Sequence of Easter Sunday). The Lord has risen indeed, alleluia! He no longer belongs to the tomb. He goes before His disciples to Galilee, back to the living experiences and relationships He had established with them, to make of them an Easter People. " O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer" we sang in the Easter Proclamation. What an extraordinary statement! That from the evil of sin could come such a blessing! Saint Paul put it very well when he wrote: " However great the number of sins committed, grace was even greater" ( Rom. 5: 20 ). The Rising of the Lord from the tomb has changed everything. Life has overcome death, grace has overcome sin, love has overcome hate. The contrast between the manner in which the Risen Christ left the tomb and that of His friend Lazarus whom He had called to come out of the tomb is indeed striking. Saint John recounts the sequence of events: " The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them: ' Unbind him, let him go free' " (Jn.11: 44 ). Jesus, on the other hand, came out of the tomb leaving the burial garments undisturbed. He walked free. His disciples found it difficult to believe. When He met with them He said to them: " Peace be with you, it is I, do not be afraid" (Lk. 24:36). The grace which comes with Easter and which is the mark of an Easter People is to be able to walk free without fear, to be able to walk away from the tomb within which each person has been enclosed because of sin. The tomb is a reality of the past. As a people brought to new life in Christ by the waters of Baptism and renewed in grace by the Sacrament of Reconciliation , we can truly walk free. The liberating voice of the Risen Saviour challenges every generation of disciple with the words: " Unbind him, let him go free" ( Jn. 11:44). The true disciple and follower of Jesus must be prepared to roll back the stone which seals the tomb, that is to take in hand that which is blocking him or her from walking freely away from the tomb. With the power of the Risen Saviour we can unbind ourselves from the shackles of sin and fear and walk freely with the freedom which belongs to the children of God. This Easter Day, as we renew our commitment to that freedom by renewing our Baptismal Promises, we walk away from the tomb unshackled and unbound. Let us rejoice today for we are truly an Easter People. Easter also challenges us to come to the help of our sisters and brothers who are not free. We are challenged by the Risen Saviour to unbind them and let them go free - free from doubt and fear, free from abuse, neglect and exploitation, free from the burden of poverty, sickness and unemployment. As an Easter People we are called upon to loosen the bonds of those bound by the addiction to drink and drugs and of those who walk in fear of violence and war. Let us, as Christians, be the liberating voice of Christ in the world and not be afraid to challenge systems and ideologies which are a burden to God's People. The Easter event of Resurrection has changed the destiny of the world. No longer must we allow the events of our past become a hindrence to our journey into a future full of hope. Let us travel that journey with the Risen Saviour who calls us each by name and may we experience His presence with us as did the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: " Did not our hearts burn within us", they said to each other, " as he talked to us on the road" ( Lk. 24:32). May the Risen Saviour travel with you on your life's journey and may your inner being resound with the echoes of the Easter Alleluia as you walk in freedom, grace and joy. +John Magee Bishop of Cloyne Easter 2003 ends |