Easter: Reason to Celebrate!

Happy Easter!

I get emotional whenever I watch Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” Although a famed depiction of the gory Passion of Jesus, I believe it no way compares to the actual suffering Jesus endured. The scene that comes to mind as I write this reflection was when Jesus, battered, bruised and shaking, embraces the wood of the cross. He does so for love of you and me. Thank you Jesus, even though I am most unworthy of it, you did it all for me. For the Romans, the whole point of having Jesus carry the cross through the streets to his crucifixion was not pain, but shame. They did it to shame, dishonor and denigrate Jesus by exposing him to the ridicule, spit and taunts from the crowd. It was to serve as deterrent for others. Jesus was literally a dead man walking. Why would they subject him to such treatment if the end goal was to kill him? The soldiers tortured him for their amusement until he looked “like a worm and no man” (Psalm 22:6). But Jesus does not allow the pain and shame stop him from demonstrating his love. St. John has Jesus say, “Greater love than this no man has than for a man to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This love is unrivaled. It is this love that made God become man in the first place, and undergo such indignity at the hands of his own creatures. That is why we call the day on which he suffered and died “Good Friday.” It is good because on that day love prevailed.

If the crucifixion was the end of the story, none of all we do as Christians would matter. But Jesus has been raised from the dead. So, we have reason to celebrate. St. Paul articulates this in no uncertain terms, “if Christ had not been raised from death our faith would be in vain, our preaching but a waste of breath, and our sin and guilt remain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Praise God, Christ did not remain in the grave; death could not hold him down, the soldiers could not prevent him from rising, and the stone could not keep him in the tomb. He arose victoriously as he promised on the third day. Christ is alive again, never to die. This is the joy we celebrate at Easter, that just as Christ died and rose again, he has brought life to all who believe in him. “We are an Easter people,” as Pope St. John Paul II, said. “And Alleluia is our song!” The resurrection of Jesus commissions us to come out of our closets and be courageous witnesses of this mystery of our redemption.

In my bulletin column for last week I wrote that Jesus’ closest friends abandoned him in his most vulnerable moment. But while his disciples were hiding behind locked doors out of fear that they could be next, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple because of his own fears, and Nicodemus, a fearful Pharisee who visited Jesus under cover of darkness, both came out of hiding to give Jesus a dignified burial. This is what faith in Jesus looks like. It is making that journey from fear and hiddenness to courage and publicly proclaiming Christ truly risen from the dead.

Christos Anesti! - Christ is risen!
Alithos Anesti! - Truly he is risen!