20150406 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AS A VICTORY OF LIFE AND LOVE OVER SIN AND DEATH

20150406 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AS A VICTORY OF LIFE AND LOVE OVER SIN AND DEATH

Readings at Mass

First reading

Acts 2:14,22-33 ©

On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd in a loud voice: ‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him:

I saw the Lord before me always,

for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.

So my heart was glad

and my tongue cried out with joy;

my body, too, will rest in the hope

that you will not abandon my soul to Hades

nor allow your holy one to experience corruption.

You have made known the way of life to me,

you will fill me with gladness through your presence.

‘Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, what he foresaw and spoke about was the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not experience corruption. God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that. Now raised to the heights by God’s right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.’

Psalm

Psalm 15:1-2,5,7-11 ©

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.

  I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.

O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;

  it is you yourself who are my prize.’

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,

  who even at night directs my heart.

I keep the Lord ever in my sight:

  since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;

  even my body shall rest in safety.

For you will not leave my soul among the dead,

  nor let your beloved know decay.

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

You will show me the path of life,

  the fullness of joy in your presence,

  at your right hand happiness for ever.

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation

Ps117:24

Alleluia, alleluia!

This day was made by the Lord:

we rejoice and are glad.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 28:8-15 ©

Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.

  And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.’

  While they were on their way, some of the guard went off into the city to tell the chief priests all that had happened. These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers with these instructions, ‘This is what you must say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.’ The soldiers took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AS A VICTORY OF LIFE AND LOVE OVER SIN AND DEATH

06 April 2015, Easter Monday

SCRIPTURE READINGS:  ACTS 2:14; 22-32; MT 28:8-15

What is Easter?  It is the celebration of the death and resurrection of the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ.  But why do we call this celebration Easter?  This is because this word ‘Easter’ is derived from an ancient religious festival which celebrates the beginning of Spring.  And what is the significance of Spring, if not the symbol of new life, when the leaves of trees begin to sprout again; birds begin to sing and flowers begin to bloom.   So Easter is the celebration of life, a new life that is offered to us because of the resurrection of Christ.

For this reason, the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord has significance for all of us.  This is because all of us are seeking for the fullness of life.  To have life is to be happy.  If we are not happy, it is because we do not have life in us.  Yes, we might be physically alive, but we are not really living.  Some of us go through life as if life is nothing else but work and study.  Others go through life as if life is nothing else but having fun.  Still many go through life, full of fears, anxieties, envy, jealousy and bitterness in their hearts.  If our life is meaningless, if we find ourselves overwhelmed by our sufferings, by problems, by loneliness and fears, then the resurrection of Christ is the answer to our misery and hopelessness. 

How? We are told that Jesus lived His whole life by doing good, curing the sick, preaching the good news and forgiving sinners in God’s name.  However, Peter tells us in the first reading, that in spite of the miracles, portents and signs that God worked through Him, He was crucified by men shamefully on the cross.  If that were the case it would seem that doing good, living a good life does not give life, instead it brings death.

However, the truth is that Christ was not simply crucified but He was also raised from the dead.  Indeed, Christianity does not simply proclaim that someone has been raised from the dead.  No! Christianity proclaims that the man, Jesus, who went about doing good and then crucified as a criminal has been raised to life by God.  So it is not simply any man who was raised.  Rather it was Jesus who claimed to speak the good news of the Kingdom; worked miracles and forgave sinners in God’s name has been raised.

Now consider the implications if Jesus had not been raised; if He had suffered corruption and if He had been under the power of death.  What would be the implication with regard to our faith in Jesus?  It would mean that all that He taught us about God and the good news of the Kingdom of God were all false.  It also would mean that His miracles perhaps were not worked through the power of God but from some other source, even from an evil power.  If He did not rise from the dead, then we can no longer trust in Jesus and all that He said about God’s love and His kingdom need not be believed seriously.  In other words, if Jesus were not raised from the dead, then He must have been the greatest liar and con man in the history of humankind.

However, the fact that there were witnesses to His resurrection, then we must interpret this crucified Jesus differently.  By raising Jesus from the dead, God has put His rubber stamp, so to speak, on all that Jesus said and did.  The resurrection therefore is the confirmation from God that all that Jesus taught about life, about His Father and Himself and about love is true.  But most of all, if God has been working, speaking and acting through Jesus, then Jesus is now identified with God.  If God has identified Himself with Jesus, it means that Jesus is no less than the presence of God Himself.  He is God in person because God has given His approval to all that He did and said.  It is for this reason that in the light of the resurrection, Christians make the absolute claim that Jesus is the Son of God.  More importantly, we now must ask: If the resurrection confirms that Jesus’ life and death is approved by God, what are the implications for us all? 

Firstly, it means that death and sin is not the final word.  It means that God is faithful to life, truth and love.  If God raised Jesus from the dead, then it means that we can continue to have faith that the power of evil will not be victorious in our life.  But the truth is that life and love is the final word.  In Jesus, we know that the power of God does not lie in His might but powerlessness, not in strength but in weakness, not in glory but in humility; not in self-centered seeking but in service.  It is love that will win over people.  It is the death of Jesus that will win over the hearts of men.  It is Jesus’ fidelity to the truth and to goodness. By raising Jesus from the dead, God demonstrated that nothing can overcome life and goodness.  Even death, supposedly the end of everything, cannot overcome life.  On the contrary, evil and death are destroyed by life and love.  Hence, we need not live our lives in fear; unlike the chief priests who in their insecurity had to bribe the soldiers to hide the truth about Jesus’ resurrection.  For no matter what people try to do to hide the truth, ultimately truth will prevail in the end.

Secondly, if God approved the death of Jesus, it means that He is affirming that Jesus’ way of death to self is the way to fullness of life.  Death is the last enemy to be conquered.  All of us are frightened of death.  It is the fear of death that prevents us from reaching out, from taking risks, from loving and from giving.  If we are self-centered and inward looking, if we are proud and ego-centered, it is because of the need to protect ourselves from death.  But once we overcome the fear of physical death, then we can also overcome the fear of personal death.  Indeed, because Jesus Himself did not fear death, He was able to die for the cause of His Father, the cause of unconditional love and forgiveness.  If Jesus could give Himself so totally in humble love and service, it is because He has conquered both physical and personal death.  It is to Jesus therefore that we find life and we find God.  Consequently, if we want to find life and happiness today, we are called to trust and surrender our lives to God, just as Jesus did.  This means that we are called to live the life of love and service in humility.  Only by emptying our life as Jesus did, can we find life as well.  By sharing the life of Jesus, we will become liberated and joyful.

Thirdly, it means that living the life of Jesus by dying to self is the way to be witnesses to the resurrection.  This is what Peter says in the first reading and what the disciples of Jesus did in today’s gospel.  But what do we mean by being witnesses to the resurrection?  It is not to be understood only as a verbal proclamation that Jesus is the Risen Lord.  Rather, we are called to be witnesses by living a resurrected life.  By having faith in Jesus and living the life of self-emptying in humility, service and love, we will come to see for ourselves the truth of how Jesus lived and died.  Living that kind of life gives us a foretaste of a life of joy, freedom, love and peace.  Such an experience therefore confirms our faith in Jesus who is risen because we already have this life in us as an installment.

And in the process of living this resurrected life, not only will we come to have faith in Jesus’ resurrection but we also become a living sign of Jesus to others in the world.  If not, we become His counter-witnesses.  Because if we say that Jesus is alive and that He is Lord, then we cannot be still living a life that is negative, depressed or sinful.  For how can people believe that Christ is alive in us if we are still dead in our sin and in our attitudes toward life?  If our profession and our life do not tally, then our proclamation is empty words.  Yes, what is the use of proclaiming Jesus to be alive when we are still dead in our sins and in the way we live?  Hence, today, we are challenged to live the new life of Christ in us, a life that is dead to sin.  For only when people see the risen life of Christ in us, can they come to believe that the Resurrection of Christ is real.

This, then, is our task as Christians.  Like the women in today’s gospel, we are the privileged ones to bring the Good News of hope to others.  Today, many people are lost in life; many feel that life is empty and meaningless and that life is unfair.  Today, many people are destroying themselves because they prefer to live in selfishness and evil.  To these people, Jesus wants to say to them, “Peace, do not be afraid … you will see me there.”  In other words, Jesus is reassuring us that we will be alright.  He will be with us in our trials and that sufferings can never overcome us.  Instead, through suffering, we will become more strengthened and purified.  In fact sufferings will purify us in our love for God and for others.  Sufferings make us humble, compassionate and forgiving.  So like Jesus, through death to self, we share in that new life.  Thus, it is exigent that we Christians are called to live this new life, if not we cannot expect people to find hope in Christ.

In this way, Easter, which is the celebration of spring, truly becomes a celebration of the beginning of new life.  This new life is given to anyone who is willing to die with Christ and to place his or her trust in Him.  For just as God did not allow Jesus to be held by the power of death, so too God will not allow us to live empty lives now and eternal death in the future.  God too will raise us with Jesus, now in this life and fully in the next.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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