On Holy Thursday, I asked the question, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” I then shared that this question, asked by a child, opens for those who have gathered for the Passover Seder a retelling of what God did to free his people from slavery. For Jews, the Passover gives them their identity.
“Why is this night different from all other nights?” is a question for us to ponder too (as we reflect on our own salvation history beginning with the story of creation recounted in the book of Genesis). What happened differs from any other night for that night Jesus rose from the dead. Had this not happened, we would not be here for the basis of our Christian faith is contingent on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, observes, “If this were taken away, it would still be possible to piece together from the Christian tradition a series of interesting ideas about God and men, a kind of religious world view, but the Christian faith itself would be dead. Jesus would be a failed religious leader; who despite his failure remains great and can cause us to reflect. But he would then remain purely human and his authority would extend only so far as his message is of interest to us.”
What happened that night gives us our identity as Christians.Whether Jesus was or is depends on the resurrection. That nightJesus did something never done before. He wasn’t resuscitated;he didn’t wake up from a coma, nor is he a ghost. He rose from the dead, taking on a new form of life. On Good Friday, he died a painful death on the cross and was laid in a tomb. When women from Galilee came to the tomb at day break after the Sabbath was over, they were terrified to discover that his body was missing. In its place, they found two men in dazzling garments who asked them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen.” They then reminded the women of all that Jesus had told them during his public ministry.
This we know from other accounts in scripture. Jesus’ risen body is not like that of a human body for the risen Lord did things no dead person can do, like appear out of nowhere behind locked doors or share meals with his disciples. Pope Benedict noted, “Jesus’ resurrection was about breaking out into an entirely new form of life, into a life that is no longer subject to the law of dying and becoming, but lies beyond it, a life that opens up a new dimension of human existence…that affects everyone and opens up a new kind of future for mankind.”
Is Jesus Christ alive for you? Some people do look for Jesus among the dead, so to speak, seeing him as an historical figure instead of someone who is very much alive and present to us. Thus, they act in the way Pope Benedict cautioned they would, not coming to know truly who Jesus is and believing that being alive, he can bring us out of whatever “tombs” we find ourselves in to an entirely new form of life even in this lifetime.
Speaking of tombs, there is a difference between standing in the tomb, as the women did, and standing outside, which Peter did. One sees different things. One sees things differently.
The women followed Jesus from his trial before Pilate to his crucifixion on Calvary. They stayed with him at the cross and they were the first witnesses to the resurrection. Their view – their perspective – was an Easter faith. Having walked the path to Calvary, they had eyes to see the heavenly messengers and ears to hear them ask, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen!” And they believed.
The men, on the other hand, were frightened. They ran away from the cross; Peter denied knowing Jesus. When the women came and told them the news that Jesus had risen from the dead, the men didn’t believe them! And when Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself, he stayed outside, stooping to look in.
There is a big difference between standing inside the tomb and standing outside, stooping to look in. One is the place of an Easter faith, a conviction of things known, though not seen.
The other is a place that finds one stuck in the events of Good Friday with its horror, fears, and death, but not quite able to believe in those things even more difficult to believe: the loving goodness of God, resplendent with kindness, forgiveness, and mercy; Our risen Lord who lives to free us from our own slavery.
The difference between standing inside the tomb and standing outside looking in is the difference, not of men and women, but of Easter resurrection triumphant over Good Friday death.
It is the triumph of a courage to believe over a skepticism that isn’t quite sure. It is the triumph of celebration and wondrous news over disappointment and despair. It is the faith of Easter, which looks beyond the agony of Good Friday.
When we stand in the place where Peter stood, stooping low to look into the tomb with our own doubts and disbelief intact, we will see a dark cavern, shadows and dust, an empty tomb.
But when we seek our risen Lord in that tomb and we stand with him in the darkness, we will see, not an emptiness of doubt, despair, or disbelief, but an emptiness that signals something new: a triumph over the impossible, a hope and promise greater than we can imagine. And when we look past the darkness of the tomb to the world outside, my friends, we will see light – dazzling light, blinding light, a shimmering curtain of light. Yes, the daybreak of Easter heralding the light of the risen Christ.