When death is life

The gospel reading for both the Vigil and the Mass of Easter Sunday report the utter confusion of Jesus's followers after the death of their beloved Jesus in whom they had placed all their hopes.

The women, who rose early in the morning, went to anoint a dead body. Confronted by the empty tomb, Mary Magdalen had reached the conclusion that Jesus's body had been stolen. When Peter and John arrived at the tomb, they did not understand what had happened.

No one seems to have expected anything like a resurrection. But then, who could blame them? They had never seen a dead body coming back to life, nor could they have imagined that such a thing was at all possible.

Jesus's resurrection was indeed a manifestation of the mysterious power of God. The Gospels do not describe what had actually happened at the moment of the Resurrection; they only recount how his followers experienced its effects. In fact all the Easter readings focus on the implications of Jesus' resurrection in the lives of his followers.

Paul instructs his converts that, joined to Christ, they must now live a new way. Having been raised with Christ from the dead, they must purge themselves of their old way of living. They are on the threshold of newness. A wondrous world of mystery has opened before them, inviting them to step in.

We are not unlike those first followers of Jesus. Though we know all the Easter story, we never seem to have grasped fully its meaning and its implications. Like his disciples, we so often continue to live burdened with our dashed hopes and with our misunderstanding of God's mysterious plans as far as we are concerned.

Unfortunately, the transformation of which today's readings speak is not and cannot be easily recognised. Our world overwhelms us with evidence of death and destruction, and not with signs of renewed hope and happier life.

Despite this, our faith assures us that the tomb is empty because Jesus has risen. It assures us that we too shall rise again if we become 'one' with Christ through love and faith. St Paul tells us how to do this. We must purge ourselves of malice and revenge, of pride and selfishness. Easter is a time for celebrating life, for adding value to value in our life in all its forms and stages.

Today's Gospel taken from St Luke tells us about two of his disciples who were on their way to Emmaus on the very day of Jesus's resurrection. Their master's death had shattered their morale as well as their faith in Christ. For them at that moment nothing was left of all his promises and of the plans in which they too would have been involved.

To get away from it all they decided to seek some rest in the countryside for a while. "We had hoped!" they went on saying to each other. Jesus, without manifesting his identity, joined them on their way and tried to console and reassure them, quoting from the Prophets about the Messiah.

Already somewhat relieved by his words, they invited him to share with them a packed lunch which they had taken with them. And, behold, it was at the breaking of bread that they recognised him as their Risen Lord.

St Clement of Alexandria has put the entire Easter message into a nutshell: "Christ has turned all our sunsets into dawns." And Karl Rahner, an eminent Jesuit theologian of our times, has written: "To renounce all is to gain all; to descend is to rise; to die is to live."