Luke 24:1-12
Dear Friends, The resurrection stories are an invitation into the Mystery of Christ Crucified and Christ Risen. They remain challenging for us as they were for the disciples and the special women on that first Easter. The information of the story, its content, has to be embraced not only in the mind but in a heart that is open and searching the deep questions of our life.It is good for us to look back at the utter bewilderment and sense of hopelessness of the disciples. The story of the women and the empty tomb had to face some harsh realities that engulfed these first followers of Christ. They were immersed in a total and communal sense of loss as they agonized over the devastating events of the weekend. Then, they had to face the mystery of the Suffering Messiah, both in the words of the prophets and in the very concrete experience of Jesus as the Crucified Christ. Add to this confusing challenge, the fact that Jesus had foretold his fate three times. It was no wonder their first reaction to the women’s astounding declaration was to label it as an idle tale.
In today’s story, we have in Peter a man searching for salvation, for deliverance. Just a few short hours earlier, he slept while Jesus agonized about is coming Passion and Death. Then Peter denied the commitment of all his time with Jesus: “I do not know the man!”
As he ran to the tomb, no doubt, Peter’s mind and heart captured the question of the human journey that is part of all of our experience. “Is there a way out of this broken reality we call life?”
The hearing of Jesus’ call and then the commitment to walk with Jesus captured the initial enthusiasm. Then the increasing challenge to believe in the context of life’s growing burden and confusion led to the questioning of Jesus, and finally, the denial. Now, as he ran to the tomb his heart was searching for a new beginning.
In today’s passage, we are given a powerful insight about discipleship, Peter’s and ours: God never gives up on us!
At the Tomb, the messengers of God, dressed in white, tell the women, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” (Lk 24:5-6)
The women carried the message, in all its wonder and all its challenge and all its confusion, to the disciples. Soon enough, the deepest hope was soon to be fulfilled. Not only has Jesus risen, but Peter, as a model for all of us, was to be accepted in all his brokenness in the loving arms of his gracious God.
Jesus has not given up on Peter and the disciples. Their failure to grasp his message, their desertion at the time of the Passion and Death, does not call forth the wrath of a vengeful God. On the contrary, we are presented with a faithful and forgiving and ever so patient God. Indeed, the reality is God did not give up on the disciples and, especially Peter. Nor will God ever give up on us.
In Peter’s running to the tomb, we have an invitation to enter into the Gospel message with new eyes of faith. It is a call for us to truly understand the words of Jesus to take up our cross and follow Him to Jerusalem. It is an invitation to face up to death in all its manifestations, great and small. We need to realize that God has spoken with the ultimate authority about our human reality. The last word is not death but life, not defeat and hopelessness, but victory that unveils graciousness and a sense of hope in all our darkest moments. God has not given up on us!
We need to return to Galilee and encounter God’s word in Jesus with new eyes opened by the reality of the Resurrection. It is, indeed, a long journey to learn that there is victory in defeat and it is better to serve than to be served and that the first shall be last and the last first and to save our life we need to lose it! Alleluia! Christ has risen! Alleluia!
