Why should we make a big deal of the rising from the dead of a builder/tradesman's son from Nazareth? The world seems in 2020 to have continued with the rise and fall of empires, pandemics and all the other ills of human society. As the saying goes: "the more things change the more they stay the same." Most people in New Zealand seem to no longer to believe in God let alone his Incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth. In such a setting should we simply abandon our fanciful ideas and join with people wittering on about Easter eggs and Easter bunnies? The answer is given for us in today's Second Reading: "... he (God) has given us a new birth into a living hope though the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: a birth into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you...". (1 Pet 3-4) Let us be mindful, today, of how beautiful and joyful this inheritance is and how it sustains us in this covid 19 crisis.
On this day Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, comes into our lockdown rooms where we live in anxiety and trepidation about the damage the pandemic is doing to our people, our economy and our Church. He says: "Peace be with you." (Jn 20: 19) It is then that the disciples, as do we, see his wounds which testify to his love for us and the extremes of his Passion. This, however, is not the end of the story. We do not stop at the wounds. Jesus then says: "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." (Jn 20: 21) We not only have an inheritance for eternity but a mission! We do not set out to bring the Good News of Christian hope to the world without support, however, since Jesus immediately gives them all they need to accomplish the task at hand: "When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'." (Jn 20: 20) With these gifts of living hope, peace and the Holy Spirit we can encounter with confidence whatever challenges the future throws at us.
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