Resurrection, the tapestry of Christian life

by Rev.Fr. Joe Paul Fernando

The incredible story reads almost like a page from an interesting novel. Nobody without the gift of faith which we are encouraged to examine, embrace, rejoice over, practise meaningfully would find it within his power to attach any credence to this world-shaking event, which is as startling as it is overwhelming.

We Christians know the story only too well. Christ died. He was buried. But ... and this is the most unbelievable fact, lovingly acknowledged and accepted by believers, hotly challenged and debated by skeptics down the centuries but vibrantly attested to by history -----He snapped the bonds of death and emerged gloriously triumphant from the confines of the tomb. Neither our world, our life nor our history has been the same again!

Perusing briefly the larger Gospel story, we see the compassionate Jesus bending over the bier in which the son of the widow of Nain was being carried out for his interment. “Young man, get up,” he said.

Then again, we catch a glimpse ‘of the merciful and truly sympathetic Jesus, taking the hand of the little girl and saying, “Talitha Cumi,” which means “Little girl. Get up!” (Mark 5:41).

We are completely overwhelmed by the majestic Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus where his body was decomposing. He said, “Lazarus come forth.”Today we are mesmerised by the glorious and victorious Jesus who rose from the dead, conquering sin and death and dealing the coup de grace to Satan, the epitome of all evil.

Resurrection

The brilliance of the Resurrection runs through the tapestry of our whole Christian life and faith like a golden thread weaving in and out, down and across keeping a perfect rhythm with the ups and downs of our day to day, pedestrian and largely unexciting Christian living.

St. Paul made it very poignant and pointed when, he said, “lf Christ was not raised to life, our message is worthless and so is our faith” (1 Cor 15:14). The psalmist was no less brilliant. “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone and it is marvellous for us to behold. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad.” Ps.118:22-24.

Once Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say I am?”

“Some people say you are John the Baptist, or may be Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked them but who do you say I am” St. Peter acknowledged His divinity by clearly stating, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt.16:13-16).

Noblest hero

Who do we think Jesus is? The greatest man who ever graced the face of the earth with His presence? The noblest hero who caught the imagination of the world as no other person has ever done before? The one who left the imprint of His life indelibly on the sands of time?

We might perhaps even say, He is the power that shook the world to its foundation by the wonderful miracle of His Glorious Resurrection. The one who brought forth a new beginning and birth in our world, through His astonishing victory over death.

A new force for good to reckon with, through the power of the Cross, sharing with us the gift of patience and long-suffering.

If He was all these, He is somebody whose life can be made the fascinating subject of a scholarly study. We can carefully scrutinise His every word as many critics have done over the centuries.

Even analyse His teachings deeply from all aspects as Pope Benedict has so eruditely accomplished in his monumental work, “Jesus of Nazareth.”If so, we will be only confining him to the pages of a history book but since Jesus came back to life after He was so brutally done to death, He is not only a historical figure but a vibrant, real and living presence. There may be yet others for whom Jesus is a paragon, paradigm and a pattern par excellence of everything that is good, holy and beautiful.

But a perfect example is too heartbreaking and breathtaking for our broken, fractured, flawed and sinful humanity.

So, the true message of Easter is that over the darkened horizons of our lives, streaks of light appear scattering the darkness of evil and sin, bringing hope out of hopelessness, turning our brokenness into His admirable strength and causing happiness to emerge out of the maw of our sadness.

The incredible event of the Resurrection tells us that no person however wretched, sinful or wicked is beyond the pale of redemption. That the lost sheep is now found and brought back rejoicing, that the wayward one is carried home safely on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd.

The first light of dawn appeared to those who dwelt in darkness. His painful death and the wonderful Resurrection have opened a path for us and so we will be judged with justice tempered with mercy, love and forgiving compassion.

Invigorating hope

Christ's broken body was sealed within the confines of a cold tomb. Triumphantly Jesus came back to life and, therefore, with Him renewed and invigorating hope emerged for all of us.

It is so consoling and profoundly comforting to be reminded on this Easter Day that the most stupendous miracle of all happened not in the wake of the triumphal entry into His holy city but immediately after an excruciatingly agonising death and an apparently colossal defeat, failure and loss.

The open and empty tomb tells a completely different and a more encouraging story as well. The epitaph on the miraculously rolled away tomb stone is one of joy, victory and conquest of sin and evil.

With regard to the modern world, particularly here in this spectacularly high-tech society where, the state-of-art technology is every day fare, the lesson of the Resurrection is that there is life beyond the grave and God can write straight with crooked lines, can cause immeasurable good to come out of abominable evil. Man's ingenuity and amazing expertise can only stretch out so far and at a certain point in our journey toward the unknown, faith has to take over unerringly to illumine our way and shed light on the profound truths that are beyond our grasp and human comprehension. For the man and woman who love and live in this sophisticated milieu, where everything is scrutinised under the sharp light of cold reason, the lesson is clear.

Challenging

Life may be hard, difficult, challenging and at times overwhelming with all its crushing disappointments, dashed hopes, shattered dreams and fallen idols. Yet the empty tomb beckons to him and tells him, “Despair not.” Everything is not lost. Jesus is alive and will be with us until the end of the world.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, the brilliant Jesuit poet encapsulated the whole episode of Easter and the rhythm of our life in these scintillating lines.

“The fall doth pass the rise
in worth,
For birth hath in itself the germ
of death,
But death hath in itself the germ
of birth.
It is the falling acorn that buds
the tree,
The falling rain that bears
the greenery,
The fern plants molder when
the ferns arise.
For there is nothing lives but
something dies,
For there is nothing dies but
something lives,
Till the skies be fugitives.
Till time the hidden root
of change up dries,
Are birth and death inseparable
on earth,
For they are twain yet one,
For death is birth.”
In the same lyrical vein he
continues,
“Let Him Easter in us,
be a dayspring to the
dimness of us.”

- Courtesy: Catholic Messenger