Apr 22 Wed
Is it true that Jesus resurrected?
In St. Luke’s Gospel, the evangelist describes how the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. Upon reaching the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. The women were greeted by two men in dazzling garments who spoke to them and informed them that Jesus had been raised.
They then brought word of this to the eleven and the others. After giving us the names of the women—Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James—the evangelist reports that their story seemed like nonsense, and thus were the women not believed. Their story was ignored by all but Peter, who got up and ran to the tomb.
We believe in the Resurrection not because it is a nice, happy ending to the story of Jesus. And neither do we believe in the Risen Lord because we have sympathy for Him. Something much more profound is at issue concerning the reason for the Paschal Mystery.
Jesus did not go to the Cross because He lied. He went to the Cross because of the truth. “I came into the world to testify to the truth.” Jesus made this known to Pilate, right before the crucifixion. Still, it would be a great underestimation on our part if all we did was acknowledge the truth of the death of the Son of Man. It’s in the Resurrection that there is truth, too!
Saint John Paul II wrote: “The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the supreme exaltation of the fruitfulness and saving power of a freedom lived out in truth.” Pope Benedict XVI writes that it’s not just truth but freedom that is at issue. “Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom. Without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated, and reduced to empty caprice. With him, freedom finds itself.”
It is clear from the Gospels that the very first thing the disciples did upon hearing about the Lord’s Resurrection was to tell others that it’s true. For instance, Mary Magdalene went to the brothers right away at Jesus’ behest, after her own encounter with the Risen Christ. Alas, this was just the beginning. Eventually, all the “telling” gave way to Pentecost and a much wider evangelization.
In the course of that evangelization, and as a result of it, men and women have chosen to die rather than compromise the Faith they embraced in their Baptism. We call these men and women martyrs for the Faith. What in the world would ever inspire the martyrs to risk it all—their hopes and aspirations, their reputations, their very lives? In a word, it is the truth.
And, specifically, in what does that truth consist? Well, how about the truth of the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception until natural death? How about the truth of marriage according to the order of creation? And how about the truth of the Catholic Faith itself amid the pluralism of religions in societies today?
Excerpts from Msgr. Robert Batule