BE TRANSPARENT AND GLORIFIED





First Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43
Second Reading: Col 3:1-4 
Gospel: Jn 20:1-9

Alleluia! The Lord is risen. For us Christians, Easter is a great event. Without Easter, our whole Christian faith becomes meaningless. The celebration of Easter is not some ideal status of God who cannot be put to death or for whom there is no annihilation. No, what we are celebrating today is a man who is raised from death. We are not celebrating God who died and rose again. It is not necessary for God to die and rise again. What God is gaining with this useless drama? If God were to show His nature as eternal, He wouldn’t have died on the cross, He could have either come down from the cross immediately – just as His executioners were mocking Him to do so – or continued to live on without giving Himself to the crucifixion. But He did neither of it. He waited for a third day. Why? In resurrection of Jesus, God is not fighting with humans that He is greater than them, rather He is making humans to realize that their status is something beyond and high. In the first reading, St. Peter tells that the risen Jesus appeared not to all, but to a few who are chosen (Acts 10:41). If God is interested in proving to His executioners that they have not succeeded in killing Him, then Jesus should have appeared to them first and to them the most. But what we see in the whole resurrection event is entirely different. At first, the risen Jesus is not seen by anyone. Later, He appears to a few, then news about His resurrection spreads far and wide. Resurrection is a breaking event in the history. Yet, it breaks out gradually. Through the resurrection of Jesus, the rulers of this world who project themselves as God – just as Caesar was doing then – are humbled. The ordinary humans are given a hope that they need not fear their human masters who have power only to kill their body not take away their eternal life in a glorified body.

In the resurrection, Jesus has not gone back to His original state of being without flesh that is to His pre incarnation form of existence. Rather, in the resurrection, Jesus is raised to an eternal nature of a human form. In the risen state Jesus is still holding a human form. He is raised with the body. In resurrection His corruptible human body is being transformed into an incorruptible one. This gives us a hope that our human existence is not ending with our bodily death. Today’s celebration proclaims that our death is a passage from this corruptible body in a destructive world to an incorruptible body in an eternal world. And so, the news about resurrection of Jesus captivates everyone in the first century. Can we imagine what could have possible moved Peter the fisherman from Galilee to go all the way to Rome to proclaim the good news of Jesus if not the resurrection? Do anyone give a life to spread a rumour? Would anyone dare to embrace cruel death such as first Christians just to keep the cooked up story alive? No, it is at the defence of truth that one would dare to give life. The invention of rumours and stories are to escape possible sufferings. Lies are told to protect oneself from defeat. That’s why the Jewish leaders pump money to spread the rumour that Jesus’ body is stolen by His disciples. On Good Friday we witnessed how lies are utilized to kill the truth. On this resurrection day we see that those same liars are terrified with the news that Jesus is risen. Yes, truth prevails, Lies survive. Truth moves from place to place and form to form. Jesus’ movement from corruptible body to glorified body is an instance that truth can be suppressed but never be annihilated. Lies survive but never lost long and see a progress. Those who stand for truth move from this world to eternal bliss. On the contrary, those who stand for lie survive this earthly life but lose the eternal bliss forever.  

In the tomb the disciples see linen clothes which were used to wrap the dead body of Jesus. This is a symbol that a resurrected body is no more like a corruptible human body that needs covering. In the risen state Jesus has embraced a glorified body that has no shame and in need of any covering. At this juncture, we recall Adam and Eve who were originally naked in the Garden of Eden. In their nakedness there was no lust and shame. It was only after they had sinned that they felt shame and hid themselves from each other. The glorified body in risen state is bringing back our originality, is restoring our original nature which was lost by Adam and Eve in the garden. In the second reading, St. Paul tells Colossians that if they have been raised with Christ, then they have to seek things that are in line with resurrection (Col 3:1-2). In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught that lust lies not in body but in the heart (Mt 5:28). Those who have this high moral attitude are partakers in the life of risen Jesus. Thus, St. Paul repeatedly tells in most of his epistles that one should not limit his/her body to sexuality but take care of it as temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). The leaving of cloths in the tomb also signifies that there is no need to cover one’s sins when s/he is the risen family. St. Paul tells in Galatians 6:1-2 that as people of the spirit they have to correct each other and carry each other’s burden. This is why first Christians never hesitated to confess one’ sins in the public. In confessing one’s sins with the each other they are helped to overcome those sins. In confessing sins, one is becoming naked in front of the other but that doesn’t humiliate sinner as the listeners are people who live by the standards that are of above. In rising from the tomb Jesus left the cloth and became transparent to all. As people of resurrection let us leave our lies that hide our true self from God and others and become transparent in living our lives. In becoming transparent we will be glorified by God and other as well as one day embrace a glorified body for eternity. Wish you all a happy Easter!

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