You who are
Israelites, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by
God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your
midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God
raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was
impossible for him to be held by it. Acts 2:22-24
“Then go quickly and
tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before
you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” Then they went away quickly
from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his
disciples. Matthew
28:7-8
Piety
Telling.
The connection of the Resurrection to the Nativity involves the act of
proclamation. Jesus was born but the
fact could not survive on its own unless the shepherds, the Magi and others
told the story of what happened in Bethlehem to others. Jesus was born again but the fact wo09uld not
make any difference in the world if people did not know. Thus the women, the
disciples and others had to tell the story.
The elders did not want word to get out so they bribed the guards just
like they tried to pay off Judas. They
were fearful but not overjoyed to hear Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. Yet no
amount of money could keep people from telling it on the mountain, over the
hills and everywhere that Jesus was born again of the Spirit.
Study
What was the Easter experience like?
In one sense, it was like any other encounter
with Jesus before the Resurrection. The
women spoke with Jesus. They touched
him, embracing his feet in a gesture that called to mind the anointing of his
feet before the Crucifixion. They listened to him and the command/lesson
that was proclaimed. Then, they followed
his instructions.
In another sense, it was unlike anything that
came before it. Even though they had
walked the land with Jesus for years, at first, even His closest friends did not
recognize Jesus. Instead of just being
overjoyed at seeing their friend who was dead but now lived, they also were
fearful because they did not yet really fully understand the meaning of the Easter
Resurrection experience.
Action
Touching.
The Easter encounter was not purely mystical. There was an actual physical interaction just
like you can have with the person sitting next to you at Mass during the sign
of peace. There was an actual physical
interaction just like you can have when greeting a friend with a hug or
handshake. There was an actual physical
interaction just like you can have when meeting someone for the very first
time.
The embracing of Jesus’ feet reminds me of
two interactions that people have described to me recently. First, if you are following the progress of
Fr. Joe’s recovery on the Caring Bridge page, his family described how he
squeezes their hand in prayer and when they read to him the comments and
prayers left on the website. Second, a
nurse was describing something that happened when her patient’s water
broke. During the internal exam, the
baby in the birth canal actually reached out and grasped her fingers.
Touching is the most basic human
interaction. Before we can see, before
we can speak, we reach out to touch one another. Who is reaching out for you this Easter
Week? Who are you reaching out to
embrace?
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