“Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him.” (Mark 16,6f) On this Easter Sunday we are invited into the empty
tomb of Jesus the Christ, the crucified one, to contemplate the emptiness of death. What does this mean
to us in our own lives and in our hope for the future? In the gospel account from John today we hear
Mary Magdalene first say, “we don’t know”. We don’t know what has happened, why the tomb is empty,
where Jesus has been taken or what we are to make of the whole affair. By the end of the gospel
account we are told that the Beloved Disciple “also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and
he saw and believed.” (John 20,8f) John enters into the empty tomb, he contemplates what he sees and
what he does not see, and he believes. He comes to believe in the words of Jesus that he had taught
them before he was buried, that after three days he would be raised from the dead by the Father. The
beloved disciple enters into the tomb in love and only love is able to truly know and understand what has
happened and where Jesus might be found. Love hurries his steps to the tomb so that he arrives there
before Peter and love first understands what cannot be seen. Love does not create an illusion or indulge
in wishful thinking but rather love remembers the words and promises of the Beloved and he believes in
what has been promised. Love takes wing and goes where forensic analysis alone cannot go. Love
believes and faith carries John beyond what he can see in the emptiness of the tomb. Jesus is risen.
Love has conquered death.
Much of the world today remains in the place of Mary Magdalene in trying to make sense of the empty
tomb. The world in its reaction to the Easter event declares, “we don’t know”. Science and reason will
not lead us to the truth that is hidden in the tomb of Jesus. Perhaps someone has taken the body,
perhaps Jesus never was truly dead, perhaps, perhaps, etc.. Without the Word of God to guide us in faith
and love we cannot come to the truth of the resurrection of Christ and the hope that is ours of new life in
Christ. Around the time of Easter each year the media proposes the world’s ideas, theories and
skepticism about the resurrection of Christ. Even the new life that is erupting everywhere in the first days
of spring, springing forth from the cold and lifeless ground of winter death, does not lead them to a true
understanding of the Easter event. The words of Jesus himself guide the believer who remembers that,
“unless a grain of wheat shall fall to the ground and die it remains but a single grain of wheat but if it dies
it will bear much fruit, the fruit of new life.” The heart knows, believes and rejoices.
Alleluia! Christ the Lord is risen today! Death is defeated, sin is cleansed and the whole world is
transformed into a place of encounter between the Lover and the Beloved, between the Bride and the
Bridegroom as we prepare and wait for the final, glorious wedding feast of the Lamb. John knows what
the empty tomb means today, it means that the promise is fulfilled, that love is stronger than death, that
there is going to be a wedding to prepare for, that soon he will be joined again with the Beloved Lord. We
had all better look to the preparation of our wedding garments.
Here at St. Elizabeth Seton parish we would like to welcome all who have come to celebrate with us
today the Resurrection of the Lord. We encourage you to rejoice with us and to enter into your hearts this
day and give yourself over to joy. Don’t stand outside the tomb and mumble in doubt and disbelief but
come and see the goodness of the Lord. Every day at Saint Elizabeth we search the scriptures and listen
to the Word of God so that we might know the promises the Lord has made and we come to the altar of
the Lord to prepare ourselves for the wedding feast of the Lamb as we see the Risen One lifted up from
the altar and offered to all in love. Every day is a day of the Lamb’s high feast. Come, let us worship!