The Resurrection of the Lord The Mass of Easter Day

Lectionary: 42

They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.

The Gospel of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection persuades us to believe because it sounds so familiar. What would you do if, in your grief you came to the tomb on the day after the sabbath, and found it empty? 

You'd run and tell someone; and you'd say, "they" have stolen his body, and you'd be crying hysterically and inconsolable. And your friends the disciples would not stay to tell you how wrong you must be. They'd run to the tomb also and find it empty, like you said. 

And why did "they" do that, whoever they are? Why would anyone mess with his grave, for God's sake? Can't they leave well enough alone? 

God, what are we supposed to do now?

So Peter and John run to the tomb and find it empty like you said, and they don't know what to think. And you want them to lead but they have no idea where to go. Or say something intelligent but they're speechless.  

And the whole day goes by with everyone in Jerusalem scratching their heads and the authorities -- all seventy members of the Sanhedrin plus the Roman procurator with his soldiers and the Pharisees and the Herodians-- are asking who did this, and no one will admit anything; but they're all accusing each other and disbelieving each other. It's Babel all over again because no one knows the truth. They can only speculate about what might have happen and everything they say is a lie. 

But everyone has an opinion -- that's for sure -- and they're not worth much.... 

...until you go back to the tomb because you can't stay away, and Jesus appears to you alone. But who can believe what a hysterical woman is saying? 

...until he appears again in the Upper Room that evening and breathes the Holy Spirit into his chosen disciples. 

There was also your mysterious friend, "the disciple whom Jesus loved," who "saw and believed." But he will never explain his silence until a half century later, he attests to his belief and how it came to him: 

What was from the beginning,

what we have heard,

what we have seen with our eyes,

what we looked upon

and touched with our hands

concerns the Word of life—

for the life was made visible;

we have seen it and testify to it

and proclaim to you the eternal life

that was with the Father and was made visible to us. (1 John 1:1)

As the Beloved explains in his Gospel, "No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

But that's getting too far ahead. This morning there is only your hysterical weeping and Peter and John's silence. And everyone is asking, "What am I supposed to do now?" 

Until everyone goes to Mass and says before God and the entire world, "I do believe."