Easter Morning Mass
Homily Text by Fr Dismas Gannon
Given at Sunday Mass, April 4th, 2010
Fr Dismas Gannon is one of our three surviving founders
and currently serving our community as prior.
The first Easter Day did not begin well nor did its mood improve as the day wore on. There were no lilies, there were no Alleluias to mark the occasion. Of course, it was not called “Easter” at all. It was simply “the first day of the week” as our text tells us, the day after the great Sabbath. So long as you could see your hand in front of your face, it was legally permissible to begin your normal activities once again, and for most of the populace that was what they did. But for the Apostles and Mary of Magdala “it was still dark”; in more ways than visually and the darkness only deepened as the day wore on.
There has never been a darkness like the darkness that engulfed the world during the thirty six hours that followed Jesus’ death on Good Friday. But the darkness that gripped the Apostles huddled in the Upper Room that first Easter morning was like a spiritual vise. With Jesus’ death their whole world, so carefully and lovingly constructed during the past three years, came crashing down around them. And it was their fault that it did so. They had all abandoned Him in His hour of need and bore the guilt of being cowards. In Peter’s case, he bore the additional shame of having cursed and sworn he had never known Jesus. No, that first Easter day was not a time of rejoicing for them but one of unremitting gloom.
But somehow Mary of Magdala had shed enough of that burden to go to the tomb. The tomb was in a garden, quite close to the place of crucifixion. And the tomb was new. It was not one that Jesus had had set aside for His burial; it did not even belong to him. So for that reason Mary and the other women had marked the spot on Friday and now Mary sought it out again “in the dark”. What she discovered blew her mind away. There was no body in the tomb! Jesus was not only dead, His body had disappeared. We know there was a reason for this but Mary did not. She fled the spot and ran to inform the Apostles. She also returned later, as we shall see.
But there were other noises in the dark that night. When Pilate had been informed of Jesus’ death he couldn’t believe it. He had seen Jesus as a healthy (if scourged) young man, muscular as befitted a working carpenter, and he saw no reason why he should have died so quickly. Some crucified criminals lasted as long as three days. Jesus lasted only three hours. But the centurion confirmed His death and, yielding to the whinings of the Pharisees that some of Jesus’ followers might steal his body and claim He had risen, Pilate told them to secure the tomb and have guards posted as best they knew how.
Then, some time during the night, in the dark, something happened. The body disappeared. “There was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. The guards were so shaken, so frightened of him, that they were like dead men.” (Mt. 28: 3ff) When they recovered they went off and reported the strange happenings to the Pharisees. The Pharisees gave the guards a cover story for their embarrassment:: ”Say his disciples came while we were asleep and stole the body and if there is any problem, we will make it good with the Governor.” And they gave them a considerable sum of money. Which is why Mary of Magdala didn’t find any guards at the tomb when she arrived. They had been taken care of.
The message she breathlessly gave the Apostles after running back to the Upper Room was “They have taken the Lord from the tomb and we don’t know where they put him”. She had, of course, no basis for such a statement; no evidence of who “they” were, but it was enough to galvanize Peter and John to run, in their turn, to see for themselves. What they saw (or didn’t see) stupefied them. It was true. Jesus was not there. The burial cloths were there, though, and the cloth that had been over His head rolled up neatly to one side. (Jn. 20:7)
Our text tells us they had not as yet understood the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. Well, Scripture apart for the moment, Jesus Himself had told them, not just once or twice, but at least three times, that He would suffer, die and rise again. St. Mark tells us after one of these prophecies that “they did not understand what ‘rising from the dead meant and they were afraid to ask Him.’” (Mk. 9:32) Having missed the import of Jesus’ prophecies the Apostles weren’t granted the privilege of hearing the jubilant proclamation of the Angels “He is risen as He said. He is not here”; but the women were. And when these latter passed the good news on, as well as the astonishing fact that they had actually met Him, the Apostles dismissed the news as “women’s tales” as the two men on the way to Emmaus told Jesus, (cfr. Lk. 24:24) and sank once more into their gloom. Marinating, you might say, in their guilt and doing penance for their sin. They seem to have been particularly obtuse to receiving the good news of Jesus’ resurrection from any source whatever.
But there was at least one Scripture prophecy they should have noted: Psalm 117 [118] Jesus had quoted from it many times, notably “The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone.” (Lk. 20:17) He had also told the people not long before Palm Sunday that they wouldn’t see him again until they chanted “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Mt. 23:30) Psalm 117 is the last of the Psalms the people who celebrated the Pasch chanted as part of the great Hallel. It contains the verses “I was punished, I was punished by the Lord, but not doomed to die. I shall not die I shall live and recount His deeds”.
To return with Mary Magdalene to the garden. You will recall that St. Luke tells us that she and other wealthy women used to provide for Jesus and His disciples out of their means and that Jesus had driven seven demons from her. (Lk. 8:1) Whatever the nature of these demons the number seven indicates a fullness, from which she was lovingly grateful to be freed. She not only provided for Jesus and His Apostles, she was with Mary at the foot of the cross as well as at His burial.
So now, after Peter and John had returned to the Upper Room, Mary returned to the tomb and stood there weeping. Questioned first by angels and then by someone whom she took to be the gardener as to why she wept, her answer was “They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have laid Him.” Notice that this scene takes place, not only at the tomb but in the garden, which puts us in mind of another garden, another tragedy and God seeking out our First Parents to engage them in dialogue. At that time God had made a promise, the promise of a Savior who would crush the serpent. Here, now, in this garden Jesus, who is the true gardener of our souls, has only to speak a single word “Mary” to make this garden a garden of Eden, a paradise in which He is the tree of Life.
And here, as in other instances in St. John’s Gospel, we have a light touch, almost of humor. Mary’s reaction was not only to cry out “Rabbuni”, which must have been a title especially dear to her to be such a spontaneous response, but to throw herself at His feet and lock them in an iron grip. Jesus’ gentle, but humorous answer is “Don’t grab Me like that. I’m not going anywhere, but GO and tell my disciples…..”
Again, a profound lesson from Mary’s actions. She, who loved Jesus so much was, nevertheless, willing to settle for His dead body. Despite her great love and faith, she had not the slightest inkling of the Father’s will in this great mystery of our Salvation. She would have been content with a dead Jesus. But the Father’s will was not an empty tomb, not a dead Jesus, but the living Christ, the Risen One, the Lord and Savior of the universe who, nevertheless speaks with the utmost tenderness “Mary!” This is the essence of the Resurrection.
What Mary Magdalene knew, what the other women knew (and of course, what our Blessed Mother knew) that Jesus had risen, was not to be enjoyed by the Apostles until that Easter Sunday evening. They may have been hoping against hope, but until Jesus came to them through the locked doors, they did not KNOW for certain. They were doing fitting penance.
But that was then, this is now. This is Easter Sunday, 2010 and we have lilies and Alleluias. We can quote Ps. 117 also: “This is the Day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice!” And no matter how grievous our personal Gethsemani might be, no matter how crucifying our Calvary, Jesus, the Risen One is with us. The God who said “Let there be light” has shone upon the face of Christ.” As St. Paul so triumphantly puts it “With God, it was never now ‘Yes’ now ‘No’ it was always “YES” in Christ Jesus, who is the Yes to all God’s promises.” Having submitted to becoming “sin for our sakes, in order that we might become the holiness of God’ He is always present at God’s right hand to make intercession for us. (cfr. 2 Cor. 1:20;4:6; 5:21) He is ready to transform these wretched bodies of ours to become copies of His own, glorious Body. And to that end He feeds us with His own Body and Blood. “Whoever eats my Body and drinks my Blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn. 6:53)
So let us rejoice and be glad and sing psalms to our God, for Jesus is truly risen! Alleluia!
+ Fr Dismas