One of the puzzling aspects of the Resurrection is that the accounts of the first Easter Sunday morning differ. Then again, all of the accounts of the Institution narrative at the Last Supper also differ and in the Gospel of John are not mentioned at all. Elsewhere we have books and gospels in the Bible with multiple beginnings and multiple endings. Yet, the accounts of the Resurrection all agree one thing - that the tomb was empty. I have no patience for those that regard this as a secondary or, even worse, dispensable aspect of our religion. The foolishness of those who look for any number of explanations, other than that the tomb was in fact empty, is staggering. St Paul tells us: "Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can you say there is no resurrection from the dead? I f there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain... If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. The those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied." (1 Cor 15: 12-14, 17-19) Let us therefore be amazed at the emptiness of the tomb and, indeed, wondering, but above all let us believe. "Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain." (1 Cor 15: 58)
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