BEARING WITNESS TO THE RISEN LORD

20160327 BEARING WITNESS TO THE RISEN LORD

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Acts 10:34,37-43 ©

Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I, and those with me, can witness to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself: and also to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 117:1-2,16-17,22-23 ©

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,

  for his love has no end.

Let the sons of Israel say:

  ‘His love has no end.’

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord’s right hand has triumphed;

  his right hand raised me up.

I shall not die, I shall live

  and recount his deeds.

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

The stone which the builders rejected

  has become the corner stone.

This is the work of the Lord,

  a marvel in our eyes.

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Second reading

Colossians 3:1-4 ©

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

Sequence

Christians, to the Paschal Victim

  offer sacrifice and praise.

The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;

and Christ, the undefiled,

hath sinners to his Father reconciled.

Death with life contended:

  combat strangely ended!

Life’s own Champion, slain,

  yet lives to reign.

Tell us, Mary:

  say what thou didst see

  upon the way.

The tomb the Living did enclose;

I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!

The angels there attesting;

shroud with grave-clothes resting.

Christ, my hope, has risen:

he goes before you into Galilee.

That Christ is truly risen

  from the dead we know.

Victorious king, thy mercy show!

Gospel Acclamation

1Cor5:7-8

Alleluia, alleluia!

Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed:

let us celebrate the feast then, in the Lord.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 20:1-9 ©

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

  So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

BEARING WITNESS TO THE RISEN LORD

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Acts 10:34.37-43; Ps 117:1-2,16-17,22-23; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9 ]

We are celebrating the most important feast of the Church, the feast of the resurrection of our Lord.  The power and truth of Christian Faith rests on this fact of the resurrection.  Without Christ’s resurrection, all our teachings and beliefs will be in vain.  Christian Faith stands or falls with the truth of this declaration that Jesus is risen from the dead.

Why is this so?  Because faith in Jesus without the resurrection is not enough to establish that He is truly the Son of God.  At most we could simply say that He was a good man, just as the Acts of the Apostles described Him before His resurrection.  “God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil.”  What is said of Jesus could also be said of many good and holy men and women, even of other religions.  Just because they did good does not mean that they are divine.   Indeed, no other founders of religions or anyone has claimed that He is the only Son of God, and no other faith believers ever suggested that their founder is the begotten Son of God.   Even the death of Jesus is no guarantee of His divine identity.  He might have died for a wrong cause.  He could be mistaken.  So even the apostles’ witness is not sufficient when St Peter said, “Now I, and those with me, can witness to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself: and also to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree.”

So what is the foundation and basis of our faith in Jesus as the Christ?  The answer is clear, “Yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead.”   So it is the resurrection of the Lord that establishes His Lordship.  In raising the Lord from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father is giving His endorsement to all that Jesus did and said.  The resurrection of Christ is the seal by which the Father approves the life and teaching of Jesus and all His claims, implicit or explicit.   This is all the more glaring when the One who is raised from the dead was condemned and crucified as a fraud and a criminal.

On the basis of the resurrection of Christ, everything in the Church makes sense, all the sacraments, the infallibility of the Pope in his teaching, the inspiration of the bible and the promise of Christ to keep the Church safe from errors and all her enemies until the end of time.   Most of all, because of the resurrection, with death overcome, Christians can live with that positive spirit in the midst of trials, disappointments and sufferings because we know that eventually we too will triumph over sin and even death.

Having established the Lordship of Christ, what are we now called to do?  Again St Peter tells us that with the resurrection of Christ, the task that remains for His followers is to announce the Good News that Christ is our Lord and savior.  “He has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

But how can we be His witnesses?  We must be those who have also encountered the Risen Lord.  We can only witness to what we have seen, heard and touched.  This is what the apostles said.  “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us –  we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” (1 Jn 1:1-4)

But unlike the apostles, we have never seen the Risen Lord.  We have not heard, touched or seen Him.  So how can we convincingly proclaim the Good News that Christ is our Lord and saviour?  The truth is that none of the apostles or disciples saw the Risen Lord initially because faith was lacking.  All they saw was the empty tomb.  But just because the tomb is empty is no proof that He is risen.  His body could have been stolen away as some detractors of Christianity claim.  In fact, most of them could not even believe that He was risen.  We read that Magdalene was at a loss when she discovered the body was missing. “She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’” And St Peter too, on arriving “went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself.” There was nothing to say that he believed.  Only St John believed.  “Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

So what are the conditions that are required to see the Risen Lord?  It is faith, as in the case of St John.   But how do we have this faith to believe as John did?  This faith comes from intimacy and love.   We read earlier that John is the “one Jesus loved.” Love has this intuitive knowledge that those without love do not have.  When parents love their children, especially mothers, they know their children’s thinking and feeling intuitively.  Nothing can escape the mother or the spouse when something is not quite right or there are significant things happening in their lives and in their hearts and minds.  If John could come to faith in the resurrection, it was because of his intimacy with the Lord.  He sees the Lord not with the eyes of reason or with empirical eyes but with the eyes of love.   He could sense that Jesus was indeed risen.

So if we want to see the Risen Lord, let us love Him deeply and we will see Him.  If we are not able to see Him, St Paul tells us it is because of our sins and attachment to the world.   Our sins block our intimacy and relationship with Him.  Even a little sin can block the full rays of God’s love.  St Paul writing to the Corinthians says, “You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be.”

So if we want to see the Risen Lord, let us now live the resurrected life.  We leave our past behind us, especially our sins of anger, resentment, unforgiveness and all our attachments to the capital sins and pursuit of the things of this transient world.  Instead, St Paul urges us, “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”   Indeed, by removing the old yeast of sin, we, in sincerity and truth, will recognize the goodness of the Lord when He comes, because He will bring us peace, joy and true freedom from the fears and slavery of this world.

Instead of looking to this world, we must “look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand” since we “have been brought back to true life with Christ.”  We are now invited to continue to contemplate on His love and on the meaning of the resurrection in the next 50 days of the Easter season so that we can enter deeply into the depth and profundity of the resurrection of our Lord.  By reflecting and entering into the paschal mystery of Christ, we will find the true meaning and purpose of life; the meaning of suffering and death.  In this way we too can rejoice knowing that we will triumph because we have hope like the psalmist.  “This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.”

And when others ask why the transformation, the cause of our joy and hope, we could then definitively proclaim, “The Lord is risen.” Indeed, this is the basis of our hope and joy.   “Because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.”

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved