Saint Frances Cabrini Parish

Father Kleppner - March 23, 2008

Light-bearing witnesses
As believers, we have responsibility to reveal the truth of the Resurrection to those who don't see
"Hidden first in a womb of flesh, he sanctified human birth by his own birth. Hidden afterward in the womb of the earth, he gave life to the dead by his resurrection." This beautiful reflection on the Resurrection is from Hesychius of Jerusalem, a fifth-century priest, monk and theologian revered in the Eastern churches.
Throughout the Gospels there is much about Christ that seems hidden, mysterious and difficult to comprehend. The disciples are repeatedly depicted as misunderstanding Jesus, in constant need of further explanation about the deeper meaning of his parables and teachings -- especially as they related to his approaching passion, death and resurrection. Their three years with Jesus were filled with fits and starts of understanding, as though the light of their master's words would sometimes break through and burn away their limited, lacking notions of who he was and what he meant to do. And yet, until what seemed to be the very end, the glorious, stunning truth about their master's death was beyond their grasp.
This is evident in today's Gospel reading, from the fourth Gospel. It was Mary of Magdala who went to the tomb "while it was still dark." Why? Perhaps to mourn. Perhaps she was sent by some of the apostles. But the mention of darkness is deliberate, pointing as it does to the darkness of vision still afflicting the followers of the Crucified Christ.
Seeing that the stone was moved, Mary Magdalene ran back to Peter and John, "the beloved disciple." We can surmise that by the time they arrived at the tomb there was some morning light in the sky, for Peter is able to see inside. And yet, the Evangelist points out, "they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead." After they had returned home, it was Mary who saw the two angels before seeing Jesus, whom she initially mistook for a gardener (see Jn 20:10-18).
This Gospel reading and the reading from the 10th chapter of Acts make a clear connection between belief and witness. Belief in the resurrected Lord is not just intellectual assent or sentimental longing, but a way of seeing, living and acting rooted in complete communion with God the Father, made possible through the Son's work and the power of the Holy Spirit. And this belief, by God's grace, is based on witness.
"How does one arrive at this present of the past, at this always of the once and for all, at the today of Easter?" asks Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in "Images of Hope" (Ignatius Press). "As a first ground rule we can say: on this path we need witnesses. ... [Jesus] shows himself to witnesses who accompanied him on a part of his path to death. In accompanying them, one can encounter the truth."
There are, to borrow from the realm of education, three "R's" that flow in succession here. First, there is the reality of the Resurrection -- the fact that, as Peter proclaimed, "this man God raised on the third day." Second, there is the reliability of the witnesses, the men and women who were there and who saw, touched and spoke with the risen Lord: "We are witnesses of all that he did." Third, there is the responsibility that each of us is given as a follower of Christ. "If then you were raised with Christ," Paul exhorted the Christians in Colossae, "seek what is above." That includes living as though there really is an "above" and not as though this world is all that exists or matters.
"On this day," wrote Hesychius of Jerusalem, "the divine call is heard, the kingdom is prepared, we are saved and Christ is adored." The life-changing, soul-saving reality of Easter is hidden to many. May we be light-bearing witnesses to the truth of the Resurrection by living in and sharing hope and joy through our words and actions.
Carl E. Olson is the editor of ignatiusinsight.com.

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