The uniqueness
of our religion is the Incarnation of God
in Christ – so for no religion has claimed to have a God who had taken a
human form and shared the life of believers in every way. In the same way, the
greatness of our religion is the Resurrection
of Jesus which gives us a hope that all of us would rise again to eternal
life – so for no religion has offered a hope for eternal life. If the divinity
had embraced humanity with the Incarnation of Jesus, today with the
resurrection of Jesus the fallen humanity has gained eternity. The incarnation
revealed the eternal paternity of one God for all humans, today the
resurrection restores the identity of humans as children of God who are heirs
of one eternal Father. The death and resurrection of Jesus is a marriage of
divinity with humanity for eternity. And so, the resurrection of Jesus is a
real breakthrough in the history of humanity.
On this day of
resurrection many questions are answered but many dreams are left questioned.
On this day of resurrection many empty cups get filled up but many supposed filled
cups get revealed as empty. On this day of resurrection many hopes become
meaningful but many glories lose their meaning. Earlier, the ethics of Jesus
toppled human ethics, today the resurrection of Jesus topples the world order. Yes,
the resurrection of Jesus changes the human understanding of time as cyclic to
linear. The resurrection of Jesus removes the cyclic burden of life and sets
the humanity in motion towards eternal end. The Christianity spread so fast
because it offered an escape from the recurring of this burned filled human
life. The resurrection of Jesus proves that human life has only single course,
no recurring. Having said this let us enter into the resurrection account in
the Bible to see what did really happen on Easter Sunday.
On Sunday
morning, the first thing that announces the resurrection of Jesus is the empty
tomb. The women come with the hope of anointing the body of Jesus but they find
the tomb empty. Peter and other disciple run to see – see what? The empty tomb.
For women the empty tomb causes an anxiety but for the disciples’ empty tomb
causes the understanding of Who Jesus is. The angels appear to women and tell
about risen Jesus but the disciples never encounter any angels because they already
know about Jesus’ resurrection – for Jesus had taught them about His passion,
death and resurrection. The disciples have some knowledge about Jesus’ rising
but they could not comprehend fully what it means to be resurrected – for they
never had any prior experience of dead rising to eternal life. Jesus is the first one to be resurrected.
The cruel of death of Jesus on Good Friday perplexed the hopes of His
disciples. The disciples were left to believe that the promises that Jesus was
making has become empty, the hopes that they had on Him have become useless. They
shut themselves in the room with fear and anxiety. They could do nothing other
than raising unanswerable questions concerning Jesus to oneself or to one
another. Their reasoning became empty, their faith became empty, their physical
strength became empty and at last their hearts too became very empty. They were
in a real emptiness. In this emptiness they encounter the empty tomb which sets
their reasoning in motion, which revives their faith, which rejuvenates their physical
strength and which fills their hearts with gladness. Their empty cups get
filled up.
On the other
side, the executioner of Jesus (religious authorities of Judaism and political
leadership of Roman Empire) are becoming empty from their supposed fullness. The
roman certificate that confirmed the death of Jesus on Good Friday losses its authenticity.
The Jewish leadership that pushed to showcase the execution of Jesus to the
public stands speechless in front of the same public. The Pontius Pilate who dreamed
of gaining more power over Jews by hanging Jesus on the cross has lost his hope.
The supposed filled cups are becoming empty! Despite these emptiness, the Pharisees
invest money to circulate lie that contradicts the resurrection of Jesus. Surprisingly,
it is that contradiction which better proves the resurrection of Jesus than the
proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection could possibly do. The more they affirm His
death, the better the resurrection becomes understood. If they were not to confirm
His death, the resurrection of Jesus could have become a continuity of the earthly
life of Jesus which awaits death one day in the near future. Their confirmation
of Jesus’ death and their circulation of lie that the disciples have stolen the
body of Jesus make the ordinary people to question the authenticity of Jewish
leadership and the power of Roman Empire. Today they all lose their meaning and
stand empty before their subjects. They stand convicted and naked!
The appearance
of risen Jesus Himself is the second and definitive proof. The risen Jesus
appears to the believers, but never to His executioners. It is reasonable to appear
in front of the enemy to disprove his stand nevertheless it is wise to make the
enemy restless by not appearing in front of him. The hearing of Jesus’
resurrection makes the executioners of Jesus restless. They await in fear of losing
their power upon encountering Him face to face. Every time they hear of Jesus’
resurrection they realize their emptiness. Every time they insist on their
execution of Jesus they fill the hearts of believers with gladness that their
master Jesus was not just a man but a God became man, the logos. The emptiness gets filled up as the supposed fullness
gets emptied. The life in risen Jesus is fullness. The risen Jesus gives us a
hope that our life is not made for emptiness but for fullness in God. The present
world questions: We can believe in the resurrection of Jesus as He was God
became man, but how can we take that as a hope for our resurrection since we
have not witnessed any single man being raised from the death? To them our
reply would be: The resurrection is to gain life in heaven for eternity. The risen
Jesus appeared to us – to show us materially – that there is life after death. Hence,
hoping to see the resurrection of some dead persons here on earth reveals one’s
improper understanding of the reality of the resurrection to life.
As we witness
the empty tomb, let our hopes get filled up. Our life is not leading to
emptiness (to abrupt end) but to fullness (to live forever). The risen Jesus
offers fullness of life in death. In the incarnation of Christ, the fullness of
God was in helpless babe, today in the resurrection of Jesus, the helpless man shares
the fullness of life in God. May this fullness of risen Jesus make the dictators
in our world to realize that their dreams and aspirations in the war are empty
hopes. Let our empty wars stop and give way to the resurrection of life. Let
this Easter make us move from emptiness
to fullness.
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