An Easter Scripture Reflection

"She saw the stone had been moved... they have taken the Lord out of the tomb!" (Jn.20:1-2)

                   Jesus is risen, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 
   Before this great mystery of our faith occurred; the early disciples were devastated! They believed that their hopes were smashed! Jesus, their friend, who had great promise to make a dent into the colonial power of the Romans, was gone! Jesus, in whom it would have been possible to heal the diverse differences in his native Palestine, was dead, lying in a borrowed tomb!
   On Easter morning according to our first eyewitness account, one of the women announced that he was alive, miraculously risen from the dead! There is also an ancient belief that Jesus first appeared to his mother; even though, we have no gospel evidence. I personally like this tradition because it tells me how much Jesus loved his own mother. On the other hand, we have some sad facts recorded by the disciples themselves: Peter who pledged eternal loyalty betrayed his friend; Judas sold out to the authorities; another lied to save his own skin and the rest of the men beat it into hiding like wimps while the women braved that volatile situation! Our poetic sequence says it so beautifully this Easter morning: "Not she with traitorous kiss her Savior stung... Not she who denied him with unholy tongue... She, while apostles shrunk, could danger brave... Last at this Cross, first at his grave." We can be certain that Mary of Magdala won the respect of the disciples until their earthly deaths.
   So, according to the Gospel accounts, the women disciples arrived at the tomb to continue vigil. Having discovered an empty tomb, stumbling through an earthquake, they discovered a heavenly messenger. In Galilee, the risen Christ would reassure them and provide instructions for them.
   Friends, our earliest written record of the Resurrection appears in 1Cor.15 before the Gospel accounts. Paul describes the joy of the early disciples before them:
* that we too have an awesome responsibility to proclaim the Good News to the whole world;
* that God who acted to bring Jesus from the dead, makes all life worth living;
* that we must adopt an Easter attitude in our lives;
* that we refuse to allow hostility and bitterness to destroy our world; 
* that we open our hearts to reconciliation and forgiveness.
   As Resurrection people, we must be bearers of hope and endeavor to remember Jesus' promise: 
    "I will be with you always even to the end of the world."
                   Happy Easter. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.