A small boy and his grandfather were flying a kite on a hillside when suddenly a low cloud hid the kite from their sight. After a few minutes, the grandfather said to his grandson, “Bobby, maybe some thief up in the clouds has stolen your kite!” The young boy shook his head in disagreement.
A few minutes later when the kite still had not reappeared, the grandfather repeated his claim, “Bobby, I think some thief up in the sky has stolen your kite!” Again, the boy shook his head.
“But Bobby,” said his grandfather, “How can you be so sure that the kite is still at the end of your string?” The young boy replied, “Because I can feel something you can’t feel. I can feel the kite tugging at my string.”
Bobby’s story illustrates why many people who were never given the first hand opportunity to see the risen Jesus were convinced that he indeed had risen from the dead. They were sure for the same reason Bobby knew that no one had stolen his kite. They still felt the tug of Jesus in their lives. They experienced the power of the risen Jesus in their hearts, a power unlike anything they had ever felt before.
Before dawn on that first Easter morning, we can imagine how the disciples must have felt. Anyone of us who has experienced the death of a close friend can fathom their grief. They had seen Jesus scourged, mocked, jeered at, then nailed to a cross. They had watched their dream die before their eyes on Calvary.
The thought of encountering angels, much less stumbling on an empty tomb, was certainly the last thought on the minds of Mary Magdalene and the other women as they made their way at the break of dawn. As we heard, they ran to share the news of what they had seen with the other disciples. The rock that had sealed the tomb had been moved and they had seen the risen Lord.
When the news later reached the high priests of the temple, they tried to downplay the story with the absurd claim that someone had stolen the body while the guards were asleep. Now and then, skeptics have argued that the body was really stolen. As time passed, however, many people like you and me became convinced beyond any doubt that the body was not stolen. In their hearts, they knew the truth that Jesus had risen from the dead. Like Bobby with his kite, they felt the tug of Jesus in their lives, even if they never had the chance to actually see the risen Christ.
Transformed by this power, many early Christians certainly didn’t keep mum. They shared the good news with anyone who would listen. No amount of persecution could stop them. Eventually, some, like Jesus, were crucified. Legend claims that many were killed by wild beasts in the Roman Coliseum. Still others were burned at stake. Yet their belief in Jesus never wavered.
This was certainly noticed by early historians. In his writings, Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century, said this about the risen Jesus, “It is also stated that after his execution and entombment, he disappeared entirely. Some people actually assert that he had risen; others retort that his friends stole him away. I for one cannot decide where the truth lies.”
Perhaps Josephus couldn’t, but over the next 2000 years, many people could decide what the truth actually was. They felt the tug of Jesus and professed their faith in the resurrection, not just of Jesus, but also their own. Like many early Christians, countless believers have died for their faith in Jesus since that first Easter, but why? Because they knew that by dying in Christ, they would also live with Christ.
In contrast to the non-believer, Christians find in the resurrection, a new understanding of the common human experience of dying. They came to realize in the resurrection of Jesus that death was no longer the end of one’s life but a transition. Death is not even seen as the start of another life for we do not have two lives anymore than a cat has nine. We only have one life. The resurrection demonstrates that death is not a period, but a comma, a pause, to make sense out of the sentence of one’s life.
The sound of joy we resonate whenever we acclaim, “Alleluia!” expresses our hope that no matter what, “I shall not die, but live.” However bleak or hard life may be to us, Jesus is there, tugging at our hearts to offer newness of life to our being, assuring us that like him, we too will experience resurrection.
Belief in the resurrection has provided countless generations of Christians with a profound feeling of hope and freshness. We dare to believe in the unbelievable but then, that is what separates us from those throughout history who have highly respected Jesus as a great teacher and rabbi but could not bring themselves to believe that he is the Son of God.
Having witnessed the risen Christ, the disciples went forth to proclaim the good news at any cost. They proclaimed the good news that Jesus triumphed over sin and evil; and so will we if we open our hearts to him. They shared the good news that Jesus is ready to work miracles in our lives if we open our hearts to his love. We do not have to die to share in his risen life for we can and do experience the presence of the risen Jesus in this lifetime.
The challenge of the resurrection is believing that his new life can change our lives. If Jesus lives again, and that is the Easter message we proclaim whenever we celebrate the Mass, we can live our lives anew with fresh hope and with peace restored, knowing deep within our hearts that our own tombs have been emptied of any sense of defeat and failure. May your Easter be blessed with the truth that Jesus is tugging at your hearts.