Christ is risen!  This goes to show that to go from here to there to preach the Good News to the poor, to cure the sick and to set free the oppressed, to love, is to please God.

God anoints Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit. And he, then, goes about to do good and to cure, set free, those the devil oppresses. Still and all, they put him to death, they hang him on the tree.

But God does raise him, set free the one put to death from its clutches. And such rising, such being set free, is God’s “yes” to living and dying for the poor. To being, in life and death, on their side. Those, too, who love as he to the end, to giving up the body and shedding blood, will rise. He will set free those who are his from the pit of darkness, from being slaves of the earth, so they may seek what is above. So that they may be the new yeast.

Yes, to love means to go from darkness to light. Mary of Magdala, for instance, beats the dark due to her love for Jesus. For she goes to the tomb early in the morning, while it is still dark.

We have to admit, of course, that she is not wholly set free from darkness. For, like the other disciples, she does not yet grasp the Scripture that Jesus has to rise from the dead. But full of love still, she stays close to the tomb weeping. And soon enough, she gets to see and meet the risen Jesus.

To lead means to serve in love, to set free those who are prisoners of lack concern for others or of hate. 

As for Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loves, they find alarming, for sure, the theft Mary has reported. So, they hurry to the tomb. The other disciple, running faster, gets there ahead of Simon Peter. But he seems to respect his authority, and so he waits for him to go in first.

And the first among the disciples sees all burial cloths to be neatly in place. There seems to be no sign, then, of theft. The other disciple goes in also. He sees and believes, which the account does not say of Peter.

The account does not, of course, name the disciple Jesus loves. For he is all of us, so long as we know Jesus’ love and love, too, in return. No doubt, we are to show respect for those who lead us. But we must show, above all, that authority is at the service of love. That love is above all rules (SV.EN X:478). Yes, we show we are Christians by our love.

Lord Jesus, help us to love you and one another, as you teach us to do. We shall thus be set free and can do what we will, sure that, due to love, what you want will be what we want.

31 March 2024
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord (B)
Acts 10, 34a. 37-43; Col 3, 1-4/1 Cor 5, 6b-8; Jn 20, 1-9