Sunday Reflections

There is something special about a surprise, when the impossible and the improbable happen.  My brother likes to surprise me.  He has thrown surprise birthday parties for me for my thirtieth and sixtieth birthdays.  Thirteen years ago when I was in Ontario for only a week, I went to my brother’s home to spend the Sunday afternoon and evening, only to find about thirty-five friends joined to celebrate my sixtieth birthday four months early.  I really was surprised!  It was funny, because some of the people there I had only spoken to on the phone, lamenting that I was not in the area enough days to see all of them.

Our gospel today (John 20:1-9) speaks to us about a great surprise – God doing the improbable and the impossible.  The disciples, on going to the tomb, did not find the body of Jesus.  He had risen!  We can only imagine the surprise and shock of the disciples on finding the stone removed, the burial cloths in the tomb, but no sign of Jesus anywhere.  Now their surprise turned to joy.  The Lord had risen!  Finally, they began to understand – like putting together pieces of a puzzle – the things that He had said about “rising from the dead”.  His body was the “temple” that would be “rebuilt in three days”. 

When we went to Mass today, we already knew that Jesus had risen from the dead.  It was no surprise to us.  Yet, this should not dampen our joy and enthusiasm to know that He is alive and with us.  Good Friday is not the end of the story.  It continues today with the revelation of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

At the Easter Vigil, we heard the seven Scripture readings of the Old Testament in which God the Father established a covenant with a chosen people.  God revealed His love in creation, and in their freedom from slavery in Egypt.  Then we hear the promises of God to send a Messiah, to free a people once and for all from the power of sin and death.  Jesus is that Messiah, the fulfillment of the plan of salvation.  As people of the new covenant, sealed in His blood and bathed in the waters of Baptism, we are sharers in that divine life and in that salvation.

The resurrection cannot remain for us only a moment in time, a date each year on the calendar.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ needs to permeate our lives, our being.   The virtue most associated with the resurrection is hope.  We are called to be people of hope.  There is a difference between hope and optimism.  Optimism is based on good will and good human intentions.  Hope is founded on the faithfulness of God’s promises, his ability to do the improbable and the impossible, as in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  He is faithful and true.

How do we experience and live the resurrection of Jesus here and now?  First of all, it helps to reflect on our lives and the little ‘resurrections’ that we have experienced – the moments of fear, hopelessness, and discouragement when we thought things could never change, never get better.  But they did!   God surprised us!  He did the improbable and the impossible.  And, in hindsight, we can see how God worked in bringing us to resurrection and new life.  We had a change of attitude, a change of priorities, and change of life.  That is the power of the resurrection, and it is ours if we unite ourselves deeply with Jesus Christ, the source of our hope and salvation. 

Second, we must be prepared – in the present and future – for the surprises of God.   We may approach a person, a situation, or an occasion – at home, at school or at work – and think we know how it will work out.  We may say to ourselves, ‘They’ll never change’, ‘There is no way this will work out’, ‘This is hopeless’.  If we are closed to the grace of God and his power to surprise us – in ourselves or in others – we are obstacles (rather than instruments) of God’s will.  What a great responsibility we have before God and one another – to be instruments of God.  If we are people of hope God can work in and through us, and do the improbable and the impossible.  We all seek a second chance – or a hundredth chance.  So, we must give to others that gift of hope in themselves, and of God’s love and mercy for them.  We can change.  We can be renewed and transformed in Christ.  But, we must be alert to the ways of God and how He will reveal Himself – perhaps not as we expect or want, but as His wisdom dictates.

As we journey through the Easter season, we will hear the gospels of the resurrection appearances, strengthening the disciples until He leaves them at the glorious ascension.  Once again, we will continually be surprised by Jesus in these appearances – His words and actions.

Also during the Easter season, our First Reading each day will be from the Acts of the Apostles in which we will see the disciples and apostles living out the mission of Jesus.  With the coming of the Holy Spirit they have been enlivened and empowered to be God’s messengers, sharing the Good News of Jesus that has been passed on to them.  His word is life!  They will also do great and marvelous things that will reveal the power and presence of Jesus, surprising themselves and others.

Here and now, we are those disciples.  Our lives are the ‘Acts’ of our apostolic life as followers of Jesus, as people saved through the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord.  Let us not underestimate that power and presence of God in what we say and do.  During this Easter season, allow yourselves to be surprised by God.  Once again, he will do the improbable and impossible, if we let Him!