When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the place
where Jesus was buried, their first encounter was with an empty tomb. Jesus’ body laid to rest on Good Friday was
missing. Unlike, the eleven apostles had
fled from their master’s passion in fear, these two women had watched Jesus die
in agony, and witnessed his interment in the tomb: they had followed Jesus to
the bitter end.
What brought them to the tomb on Easter morning? St. Mark
says that they came with spices to complete the burial rites left unfinished by
Joseph of Arimathea. St. Matthew omits this detail,
perhaps to intimate, that
what really brought them to the tomb was Hope.
Hope that Jesus’ words and his promises would be fulfilled. Hope, that he had risen, just as he said he
would.
Their first encounter was with an empty tomb, their second
encounter that morning was with an angel heralded by a great earthquake—and he
truly had some earth-shattering news: Jesus has risen!
The last time we met the angel of the Lord in Matthew’s
Gospel, Joseph was being told not to fear taking the pregnant Virgin Mary as
his wife, now the angel offers that same greeting to the women at the tomb, “Do
not be afraid!” Why would these courageous women be afraid, especially if hope
had brought them to the tomb? In Scripture, fear is a common experience in the
face of some powerful work of God—and the resurrection, though promised by
Jesus is still beyond our imagining…or perhaps, the angel wanted to reassure
these women that Jesus’ body had not been stolen. And they left the angel “fearful,
yet overjoyed” as they carried this message of the resurrection.
“Fearful, yet
overjoyed” is a great description for all of us tasked with the message of
spreading the Gospel. We are fearful, because we are all in unfamiliar
territory. We will not know how the message
will be received. We are not entirely sure how we will reach out to those who
appear to have hard hearts. Yet, we are
overjoyed in being tasked with this mission.
I think of the newly baptized on Easter. How overjoyed they must be in receiving the
new life of grace, yet also a little fearful—how will they maintain that joy,
and maintain this new relationship with the risen Lord? Certainly with our
help, yes?
The most important encounter the two Mary’s had that
morning, wasn’t with an empty tomb, not even with the angel. The third encounter they had was with the
Risen Lord Jesus himself.
In earlier years, it was customary for the newly baptized to
attend Mass throughout the entire octave of easter, so they could encounter the
Lord as they encountered him in the easter sacraments, once again in the
reading of scripture and the celebration of Eucharist.
And all of us need that constant encounter with the Lord: in
our communal worship, in the scriptures, in the study of our faith, in service
to the needy, and of course, in the blessed sacrament.
We are blessed to have that great honor this morning. May
the Lord, give us courage in our fearful mission of spreading his Gospel, and
fill us with joy at knowing his constant presence with us, for the glory of God
and salvation of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment