Amazed at What Happened

Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

Piety

Jesus, you know that we are slow…slow learners, slow teachers. Without you, we feel an emptiness as deep as the tomb you have conquered. We feel so alone. Now we remain and do not realize you promised us an Advocate. We do not remember what you told us would happen next. When we learned about the Resurrection from your lips, you warned us not to tell anyone…and we quickly forgot. Now that you are not present, we finally start to seek you. What comes next? Oh, if we just did not abandon you. We seek you now in the tomb. Where can you be found? Come back to us and teach us some more. Live among us some more. Love us some more. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/040707.shtml

As we ended Good Friday, the disciples were scattered. Few friends remained with his mother at the foot of the Cross. Mary was there with Jesus from the beginning until the end. When it was over, Joseph of Aramithea and Nicodemus laid the body where Jesus had dwelled in a tomb and covered the entrance with a large stone. If the condemned “criminal” had been any other man, the story would be over. Roll the credits.

But this is not just any other man. Not any longer. Tonight, Holy Saturday, we are on edge, afraid the soldiers will come for us next…watching for what will happen next.

Throughout his public ministry, Jesus consistently invited everyone, “Come. Follow Me.” As we sit in tonight’s Vigil Mass, we anticipate the sun rise…Son rise.

But if we were there when they crucified our Lord, we would expect to have a sad Sunday morning. The Sabbath is over and the Jewish women –weeping and mourning – follow Jesus to the tomb…but do not find a body there.

As they approach, their biggest worry is who will roll away the stone so they can anoint the body with spices. Instead, they find the unexpected. But as they recall the unexpected rapidly turns into déjà vu…didn’t Jesus tell us something like this would happen? The next few hours will be a blur of activity.

When we are engaged in competition, someone is usually keeping score. At the end, we usually know who won and who lost. Then, the nets are cut down. The champagne uncorked. The t-shirts sold. The television interviews conducted. The trophies awarded. The madness ensues. We are not used to victory going unrecognized.

Most people in Bethlehem did not know that they were playing host to a King back in the stable. But they were. Slowly they recognized what had happened…they had an epiphany – a sudden realization.

No one will immediately know what really happened at this tomb. The soldiers will blame the disciples for stealing the body of Jesus of Nazareth. The disciples will think that the soldiers have stolen the body of the Lord. But we are about to experience another epiphany…at the tomb, on the road to Emmaus, locked in the Upper Room, getting final instructions, and watching the Ascension.

But for tonight…we await what will happen next after a quiet prayerful Sabbath.

Action

Check out some suggestion at www.simpleliving.org for celebrating a less commercial and more reverent Easter. They have suggestions like today’s:

40 - Easter Eve. Jesus' death embarrassed those who valued success. Those few followers that didn't abandon him understood Jesus showed how far love will go to be faithful. Do we understand it is in dying that we are born to eternal life?