He Is Not Here! He Has Risen!!

(Homily For Holy Saturday)

     This according to St. Augustine is the Mother of all vigils, because this night we Christians relive the fundamental event of our faith, the passage from death to life, to life in Christ, the passage from darkness to light, the Holiest of all nights. We celebrate the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death. The Risen Lord is the Eternal Light that dispels the darkness of the world, the darkness that obscures our existence. The Liturgy tonight and the different texts chosen for the readings all revolve around the theme of life, of new life springing up from the power of God. The Liturgy of Light and the renewal of baptismal promises intone a hymn to the new man, risen together with Christ. The Easter proclamation focuses on three major themes: the deliverance of Israel in the Exodus, the baptismal deliverance of the new Israel (Christians); the Resurrection of Christ. The biblical readings for the Easter Vigil recall the saving acts of God like: the creation of the world and of humanity (Gen. 1), the abundant blessings of Abraham (Gen. 22), the liberation of Israel from slavery of Egypt (Ex. 14), this is considered to be the most important reading, because the crossing of the Red sea is a type of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, the restoration of Israel (Is. 54:55; Bar. 3; Ez. 36). In the light of all these readings, the resurrection of Jesus is presented as the climax of the proclamation that God indeed is not the God of the dead but of the living. From the New Testament, we see the text from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans (6:3-11), where St. Paul invites them and us to lead a new life, because Christ is risen from the dead by the power of the Father. In the Gospel of Mark (16:1-7), we see the holy women in search of Jesus, and later the involvement of the apostles in the amazing event of the Resurrection.

     The message of the Resurrection of Jesus or better the Paschal mystery in its triple moments: of Passion, Death and Resurrection, is invariably the central nucleus and the predominant theme of the Christian faith. Through His descent into hell we reach truly that amazing and fascinating summit of the event of Jesus. An early Christian story says that Jesus entered the place of the dead with his cross, the weapon of his victory. Having released all those who were inside he decided to leave his cross standing in the centre of hell, a sign that even those who pass that way do not find themselves in a place which is unknown to him. On Holy Saturday, we see the radicality of love that offers itself, even till the extremity of the same love. This is exactly what Jesus did for us.

     Jesus in that great silence lived the solitude of the apparent absence of the Father. Here, the hot-button question resounds: “where is God?” This is the interrogative point of Holy Saturday. But interestingly, to this silence and cry of abandonment by Jesus, the Father will respond with and through the Resurrection. For St. Paul tells us that “God…brings back the dead to life and calls into existence what does not exist” (Rm. 4:17), elsewhere he affirms that God raised Him from the dead (Rm. 10:9, cf. Acts. 2:24; 1Cor. 6:14). And it is today that the unprecedented message reaches us with a profound question “why do you look for the living among the dead?” And here, we hear for the first time the mind-blowing response, “He is not here, He has risen”. Yes! Christ has risen as he said. This event reveals that there is no darkness that cannot be transformed into light, no human misery that cannot be transformed into an avenue of mercy and favor. Dear brothers and sisters, we can never have enough voice and courage to repeat or better to shout aloud that Jesus is risen, but let us allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with joy that springs from this event.

     Reflecting deeply in tonight’s Gospel narrative, according to St. Mark, it is eminent the part the three women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome) played. They made headway to the Tomb, and this fact of going to the Tomb reveals that their hope was shaky. Certainly, they must have placed their trusts in Him, but his death shook the very foundation of their hope and trust in Him. However, they had the courage to go and pay homage to the corpse. The Markan account reports that on arrival at the grave of Jesus the women were asking themselves: “who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” Afterwards they discovered that the stone was rolled back, then they entered the tomb, and saw “a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed”. And the young man said to them: “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here”. And behold, their reaction was characterized by fear, joy and uncertainty. Here, from the theological standpoint, the white clothing of the young man is suggestive of the fact that it is an angelic figure. Indeed, the women’s response was a typical reaction to an Epiphany: fear, wonder or silence. It is interesting to note that, the young man in white rope proclaimed the Resurrection of Christ, first to the women and invited them to go and “tell the disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him”. Galilee in Mark’s symbolism indicates a place where the proclamation of the Good News begins (cf. Mk.1:14-15).

     The phrase: “He is not here”, indicates a new presence, Jesus is alive and active. Mathew in fact, accentuates the new life of the Risen Lord. This is also seen in the book of Revelation (5:6) where the image of the crucified and risen Lord was represented with the figure of a Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed. Indeed, the Crucified-Risen Christ is the Living One: “Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the living One, I was dead and look, I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades” (Rev. 1:17b-18). And He alone is capable of transmitting new life to entire humanity. Our Creator God is a God of life. The mystery of the Resurrection is directly linked to the mystery of creation. It is all about life, life to the full.

     Indeed the belief in the Resurrection of Christ is not incumbent primarily upon the empty tomb. The Resurrection is by no means identical with the empty tomb, however, the fact remains that the empty tomb plays an essential role in the New Testament witness of Christ Resurrection. Be that as it may, the empty tomb is a symbol that the appearances of the Risen Christ are not mere spiritualist visions. In and through His resurrection Christ overcome death and opened up man’s destiny beyond the grave and death. Let us pause and ponder a little while on the “Pro Nobis” of this event. In fact, in the second reading from the antique homily in the office of readings this morning, there we see that the phrase “for you” reoccurred several times. Hence let’s ponder on what Jesus has done for us. The Resurrection reveals Jesus as the Redeemer of mankind, and here subsists the “Pro Nobis” of His Death and Resurrection. For with the Resurrection of Christ, man is not only redeemed, but he has a divine destiny. He is called to a continuous resurrection, to self-transformation and social transformation.

     The Resurrection impacts the credibility seal on our faith, for without the Person of Jesus, without his death and Resurrection, our Christian faith would not have been credible. For this St. Paul affirms “we preach the crucified Christ” (1Cor. 1:23). In the same letter, he posits: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is without substance, and so is your faith” (1Cor. 15:14). Yes! Because the center of our faith is the Person and the Event of Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity without the Crucified-Risen is empty. Without Christ our life will be devoid of meaning, Christ is the reason of our existence. In all, it behooves us to reaffirm with St. Paul that, “Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep” (1Cor. 15:20). It is because he rose that we can say “In him we live, in him we move, in him we have our being” (Acts 17:28). For the realism and credibility of His Resurrection, St. Paul questions, “who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died, yes and more, who was raised from the dead, and is at God’s right hand, and who is adding his plea for us?...Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ?...we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us” (Rm. 8: 34.35.37).

     Above all else however, the Easter event restores the hope of the disciples and commissions them to proclaim openly the saving works of God in Christ, through his Death and Resurrection. And this is a mission which we are called to continue today, as a Church and as individual members. The saving work of the Risen Lord is and will continue to be an ever-present reality in the Christian community.

A wish to you all of a Continuous Resurrection!

He has risen as He has said!!

Happy Easter to you all!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)