"Have you seen the Lord?"

He is not here, by Walter Rane

One of the most extraordinary facts about today’s Gospel for Easter Sunday is that the Risen Lord is nowhere to be seen.

At the tomb, the stone was rolled away, and the angels were guarding its entrance.  Then there were the stunned Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. 

Eventually Peter arrived only to find the cloths lying on an empty bed, while John, the beloved disciple kept looking from a distance.

John’s Gospel adds the presence of someone who the women took to be the cemetery caretaker.  For all of them, there was just an empty tomb and the funeral garments lying around.

Now, had Jesus followed our own version of the events, He would have been waiting for the people to arrive, then in a big show for all to see He would have risen from the tomb.  After a great worship service, a big party, and perhaps even an egg hunt in the cemetery, they would all have gone on their own ways to live happily ever after!  But no.  On Easter Morning, Jesus is nowhere to be seen near the tomb.

When Isaiah voiced his prophecy some five hundred years before Easter Sunday, possibly he had no idea how significant his prophetic words were to be for centuries later.  Actually, when he spoke, he was addressing a people who at the time were still looking at a smoldering Jerusalem and contemplating a bleak future before their eyes. 

So, in the midst of desolation, unanswered questions, and in what concerned the people, impossible odds, Isaiah voices God’s words of comfort and hope – “Never mind what you see.  Listen – I am not going to bring back the old Jerusalem and the good old times.  However, trust me, I am going to do everything new – a new Jerusalem!  A new city where people shall live in peace with each other.  It will be a time of healing and reconciliation.  And it will be a time where you will call for me, and I will listen to your cries.”

And such prophetic words are at the heart of Easter Morning.  The Resurrection gives the old prophetic voice a new and far-reaching meaning, “Never mind that you are looking at an empty tomb.  I am not going to bring back the ‘old’ Jesus, and I am not going to bring back the days when you went out fishing and preaching.  It will be not just a small bunch of faithful disciples, but innumerable disciples all over the world.

“It will be a new season of healing and reconciliation.  It will be a time where you will not need to go somewhere to worship our Father and God, but it will be a time where you will be able to worship your Father and my Father in your own very hearts.”

In other words, Easter Morning was not a time for wailing and recalling the good old times, and what could have been.  Easter Morning was a time to look the world under the light of the Resurrection – a Resurrection which signals God’s goodwill, grace, and mercy – and the promise of not just a reset, but a new birth, a new creation.

So, Easter Morning invites us not to ignore the smoldering ruins of the past, the challenges of the present days, and to look into a future only carried on the shoulders of what we can achieve under our own strength.

Easter Morning invites us to dream big, to hope even larger, and look for a better deal from the hand of a loving Father, trusting in the fellowship of a heavenly Friend, and relying on the empowering of an ever-present Spirit.

Easter Morning challenges Christians to rise above any limitation and to embrace the promise of a Risen Lord who is not interested in bringing back the good old days but making all things new. 

It is a call to step into the unknown with faith, trusting in the divine plan which will unfold in ways far beyond our imagination – and even the best laid denominational plans and expectations.

As we look ahead into the future, we are invited to join in with a God intent in bringing about a new creation.  So, under the light of the Resurrection we can look at the brokenness around us – and in us – not with despair, but with the conviction that new life is not only possible, but it is God’s will.  And further, somehow, God will bring about.

And so, to embrace this new Easter season, is to carry the light of the Resurrection within us, illuminating the darkest corners of our hearts and the world.  So, let this light guide our actions, inspire our dreams, and strengthen our spirits.

“On this day the Lord has acted; and so, we will rejoice and be glad in it”, sung the Psalmist.  So let us go forth into the world with joy and hope, walking with a spring on our steps, knowing that the same power which raised Jesus from the dead is at work for us and in us, and for the good of the world.

Fr. Gustavo