Easter Monday

Lectionary: 261

I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.

The war stories of Veterans have thrown a new light upon my reading of the Gospels, and especially of the Passion Narratives. I've remarked already, perhaps in the last week, how incredibly difficult it must have been to get this story right. For all time the Church will continue to wrestle with the story of Jesus and to faithfully retell it to each succeeding generation. 
Since the Second Vatican Council the Church has struggled to identify the true story of Jesus within its traditions. We could not strip away all the traditions, nor could we keep them all. In the effort, we often felt as if we throwing the baby out with the bath. But the water had to be changed. Some of it had become foul. 

The Apostles and the early church struggled also to keep the faith as they told the story of Jesus. They could not dismiss the entire Jewish tradition, nor could they keep all of its customs. Because Jesus was a Jew neither his mission nor his nature could be understood without a deep appreciation of the Jewish religion. 

But how did his life and death and resurrection make sense in the light of Jewish history? 
In today's first reading we hear Saint Peter stand up before his people and announce: 

“You who are children of Israel, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.

He would go on to explain the Lord with citations from the psalms. They were familiar words since the psalms were the daily prayers of the Jews, as they are for us today. 

my flesh...will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.

Jesus died on Calvary. There was no doubt about that. But his body could not undergo corruption. That too made sense. Although tens of thousands of Jewish men and women had died since King David wrote those words, and virtually all of them has sung these words, they finally made sense in the light of Jesus' resurrection. Peter might have said, "Now we know what those words mean!" The Lord had not been abandoned to the nether world, even if he had momentarily "descended into hell." 

Peter could also see that David had prophesied Jesus' ascension to the right hand of the Father: 

you will fill me with joy in your presence.

But one further challenge remained for Peter and the disciples and for you and me: to live this story right. There's little point in my celebrating the resurrection of Jesus if I am not filled with joy in your presence. As his story becomes mine, as I bear my cross to Calvary and wait with him for resurrection, I too enjoy the promise of life.