The Resurrection of the Lord
I have asked myself a question often. After his resurrection, why did Jesus only appear to his apostles and a few close disciples? There is a villainous side to me which makes me imagine that if I were Jesus, I would have shown up at Pilate’s bed side when he was fast asleep and tickled him. I would have loved to see his face when I said, “Dude, want to wash your hands?” Or, as the chief priest, Pharisees, scribes, elders and those who had falsely accused gathered for worship, I would slowly slip among the worshippers and land in the front row. Can you imagine their faces? And I would have said, “Now do you believe?” Then I would just vanish from among them.
If the post-resurrection scene was anything like I imagine, then the story of Jesus and the story of the church would be written very differently. Many more people would have believed in Jesus more easily. The story as we know it tells us that Jesus appeared only to his small group of followers. Why does Jesus choose to do it his way? I am going to attempt some answers. In these answers, I also hope to find reasons to affirm the truth and power of the resurrection.
1) Jesus before the Resurrection is the Jesus after the Resurrection. If we think about it a little deeply, Jesus’ message is the most consistent message we will ever hear. Before his tragic death he had told his hearers, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only son….” (Jn 3:16). Jesus preached this message of love radically and uncompromisingly. Even the threat of a brutal death on the cross did not make him deviate from his primary message and mission. Yes! Jesus could have tickled Pilate up from his sleep and shocked his religious opponents to belief, but then, that would not be display of God’s love, but rather, a display of triumphalism. Jesus did not do that before his death and he would not do that after his death. Before and after his death Jesus’ message and the way he delivered it remained consistent. Had Jesus changed his modus operandi, then humankind would not be free to love God, but rather, they would be compelled into faith. If my post-resurrection game plan had been followed, then, today we would have been present here not because we loved God, but rather, because God has cowed us into fear. In fact, Jesus’ consistent mission of love becomes our greatest assurance that the Jesus who appeared after his death is the same Jesus before his death.
2) Trading Triumphalism for Humility. There is a term in my first point which I would like to focus on in my second point. The term is triumphalism. Scripture does not spare any effort to let us know that Jesus was the Son of God. Yet, what we do not find in the scriptures is a triumphalisitc and arrogant Jesus. Jesus was not utterly helpless before his death. After all, he was God. He simply chose to function in direct contradiction to the brute force of the Romans and the religious oppression the religious leaders. If Jesus wanted, when opposition began to build against him and later during his unjust trial, intense suffering and agonizing suffering on the cross, he could have exercised divine power. But then, Jesus was never known for his triumphalism. Rather, the hallmark of his ministry was humility, service, availability, mercy and compassion.
Do you think Jesus has a message for us? I sure do. How does it make you feel when Pope Francis opens up the Sistine chapel to the homeless of Rome and has dinner with them? How does he make you feel, when on Holy Thursday he celebrates mass with prisoners and washes their feet? I believe that the church is at its best when it is like her master. I believe that Christians are at their best when they are like Jesus. Unfortunately, in one way or another we are all victims of triumphalism – Catholics and Protestants over each other, Christians and Muslims over each other, liberals and conservatives over each other, black and white over each other, citizens and immigrants over each other, believers and atheists over each other, defenders of religious freedom and its opponents over each other, our military and other militaries over each other. Thousands of years of triumphalism – where has it brought us? This Easter we are reminded that triumphalism is not Jesus’ way. Easter is a victory of humility, service, availability, mercy and compassion.
3) Will You be Easter? In the gospel of John, the resurrection appearances are appearances of reconciliation. Jesus often appears to his followers with the words, “Peace be with you!” Once again, if Jesus wanted, he could have accused his disciples for abandoning him; he could have berated Thomas for doubting him; he could have faulted Peter for denying him. Jesus does none of that. Rather, because His mission is of a mission of peace and reconciliation, he says to his disciples, “Just and father sent me, so I send you.” Church of Jesus Christ, I hear Christ saying the same thing to us as we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. As strong the temptation is for us to flaunt the resurrection of Jesus, Easter is an invitation to pursue reconciliation and peace. Pope John Paul II (whose 10th death anniversary was on April 2), once said, “… the path outlined by God for his Son is the path to be undertaken by the disciple who has decided to follow Jesus. There are not two paths, but only one: the one trodden by the Master. The disciple cannot invent a different way. Jesus walks ahead of his followers and asks each one to do as he himself has done.” (John Paul II, XVI World Youth Day, 3). Easter is an invitation, as our parish motto says, to “Think like Jesus, Talk like Jesus and Act like Jesus.” Easter is an invitation to be like Jesus even it seems that we are losing. Easter is an invitation to believe that it is losing that we win. Will you be Easter?
- Fr. Satish Joseph