By Ishongkun Kurbah csc –
Readings: Acts 10:34, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9
Today is the day we celebrate jubilantly the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Resurrection is the rock foundation of our faith. It is because of this Resurrection experience that has been passed on from generation to generation that we still cling on to something that we have heard of but have not seen by our own eyes and touched with our hands.
And this ‘Something’ is our Lord Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead. Onto this resurrected Jesus we still cling on with hope and faith. It is in his resurrection that we gain strength to endure the trials and tribulations of life. If Jesus never rose from the dead our faith would have been futile and baseless.
Mary and the Apostles ran to the tomb not to see the resurrected Christ but to see the dead body of Christ. But when they reached the tomb, they no longer saw his body but only the cloth which was used to wrap his body. They did not know what happened, nor did they understand his words and the scripture until he appeared to them in body.
We have never seen or touched him but we can possibly feel him in our faith. Like Mary and the Apostles we may run to seek him when we struggle in different aspects of our life, but we might not find him. Perhaps, just like he appeared to Mary Magdalene and to his disciples he will surely appear to us too. In the struggle of our life, in journey of our faith when we walk an uneven
path, when we do not find hope, and when everything seems to have no meaning, he will come and appear to us if we cling on to him. He rose again to give us hope and new life.
He rose again to give meaning to our life. It is becausehe rose again and appeared to the disciples that they did not scatter, they gathered together waiting for his promise. This Resurrection experience must give us new hope and rekindle the fire of our faith that he has risen and surely will appear to us because he does not want us to be scattered. He loves us just like he loved his disciples, and he wants us to pass on this similar Resurrection experience to others.