Homily for Second
Sunday of Easter
April 12, 2015
Real Resurrection
A few
months ago, I was popping into the fifth grade religious education class at St.
Benedict’s, and we started talking about holidays and what their religious
meaning is. The kids were able to tell me what Christmas was all about – the
birth of Jesus – but most of them were stumped about Easter. So I re-told the
story of the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, telling the kids about
how Easter is the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead.
One kid
looked incredulous and said, “Wait. You mean to tell me that Jesus actually
rose from the dead?”
I said,
“Uh, yeah, He did.”
He
looked bewildered and said, “Really? I thought that was just one of those myths
that our religion teacher made up!” Meanwhile his religion teacher was
mortified and looked like he wanted to melt into the floor!
Yes,
Jesus really did rise from the dead. We know this must be true for several
reasons.
First of
all, the tomb is empty. If the tomb wasn’t empty, then early first-century Jews
or Romans who wanted to stop this rumor about a Risen Jesus could simply point
to the tomb and say, “Look! He’s still dead!” But the fact that they couldn’t
find His body lends credence to the reality of the Resurrection – the enemies
of Christianity couldn’t find it, archeologists couldn’t find it, no one could.
The body of the most famous Man in history doesn’t just disappear – unless He
is truly risen!
But not
only does an empty tomb show the Resurrection, but also, consider the large
number of people who actually saw Him! It says in Scripture that not only did
the Apostles see Him alive, but St. Paul tells us that over 500 people saw the
risen Christ. Five hundred people couldn’t all be hallucinating! Besides, did
you know that eleven out of the twelve Apostles died as martyrs? Every single
one (except John) died a horrific, torturous death – Bartholmew was skinned
alive, Peter was crucified upside-down, James was beheaded – all for the crime
of proclaiming that Jesus is risen. If this was some sort of hoax or myth, why
would they be willing to die for it?
Consider,
too, how many people believe in it today. If the Resurrection were a myth, why
would over two billion people believe it? Look at the incredible transformation
that happens in peoples’ lives when they believe in the Risen Christ – the
first reading talks about how the early Christian community “was of one heart
and mind, not possessing anything but holding everything in common, without
needy people at all.” Wow! Something obviously has changed these people – even
the best religious teacher can’t inspire people to live such a radical life of
charity. But an earth-shaking event – like the Resurrection – can change our
lives like that.
In many
ways, we are those people that Jesus refers to in the Gospel – “Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet believe.” We have not seen the Resurrection.
But we believe precisely because of the testimony of those who have seen it. John writes in His Gospel
today that his Gospel “is written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in
His Name.” We believe in the Resurrection because we believe the people who
told us – people like the Gospel writers, who wrote down the biography of Jesus
(and the Gospels are accurate historical documents!). We believe because of people like Thomas,
whose disbelief gave us a greater proof of Jesus’ Resurrection, because Jesus invited
Thomas to touch Him to prove that He really is risen. We believe because of the
Apostles, who went to the ends of the earth to tell others that He is risen,
and shed their blood in defense of this fact. And, it is my hope, that we
believe because we ourselves have been personally transformed by our faith in
Christ, who is alive.
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