We speak of the “Paschal Mystery”: that is, the mystery of Christ’s saving death and resurrection; his passing over from death to life; his passage from defeat to victory; from humiliation to glory; from this world to the Father. But behind all that, or more fundamental yet, is simply the Mystery of Christ Himself. As we ponder today this limitlessly deep Mystery, we cry with the Psalmist: “too wonderful for me is this knowledge: too high, beyond my grasp.” The mystery of Christ himself is somehow always utterly astonishing! Certainly it’s endlessly fruitful for us, and life-giving, and life-transforming, with such vast implications for our life, for our view of the world, and of our purpose and destiny in it! In Him is divine revelation; revelation of God’s love; revelation of God’s will and power to save; revelation of God’s super-abundant goodness; revelation of God’s presence with us; revelation also of the Holy Trinity. In Christ we have an unshakable ground for hope; He is for us the cause of a joy that is in principle invincible and unending.
Who is he?
He is Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth, infinite, eternal, omnipotent. He is the eternal Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, who out of sheer and undeserved love for us became a man in Jesus Christ our Lord. He became of course not just any man, but a new Adam. He is our great High Priest (cf. e.g. Hb 4:14), and the mediator between God and man (1 Tm 2:5); He is our Saviour and Redeemer; both our brother, and our Lord.
What has he done?
He has changed everything. By his death he has destroyed our death. By his poured-out blood he has washed away our sins. By his saving sacrifice he has reconciled us with his Father. By his total self-gift he has poured out upon us his Holy Spirit.
And then… and then…
… on Easter Night, in the dark, and without any witnesses, he rose from the dead. He truly died in the flesh: but the tomb could not hold him. Rising in power from the dead, he overthrew the Kingdom of the devil; he flung open for us the gates of heaven; he proved that, in God, life is more powerful than death. Goodness - with mercy, generosity, compassion, patience - is more powerful than any evil whatever. Love - divine love that is - is strong enough to overwhelm even the blackest and darkest sins, and turn any sinner into a Saint. Christ’s resurrection from the dead is for us not just a postponement of death, or a prolongation of this life, as in “more of the same”. No: Christ’s resurrection from the dead is the cause for us of new and endless and divinely glorified life. Now, as St. Paul cries out, having once died and risen, he can never die again (Rm 6:9). His victory over sin and death is definitive. And through him, with him, in him, we too are victors. Now, as Paul also says, Christ himself is our life (Col 3:4); and when he appears again, those who belong to him will also appear with him in glory.
So what?
So our life cannot be the same as if we had never heard and accepted the Good News, had never been baptised, and were not even Christians at all. No: we have to walk in him, in his light; we have to live in him, rejoice in him, draw life from him, serve him, follow him.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t appear at all. How remarkable that this central event in human history, this event of cosmic significance, is described so enigmatically by St. John. Darkness, and early morning gloom; confusion; incomprehension; figures running; stooping; seeing nothing. Just emptiness. No body. No proof. No miracle, as yet. But: the dawning of faith, from that moment: the same faith we now have, the faith which has sustained the Church through all the centuries and all the nations of the world ever since. Because yes: it’s all coherent. Although so surprising, still it was all predicted or prepared for in the Old Testament scriptures; also of course it was all predicted by Jesus himself; and the whole of human history, and especially the history of Israel, has been leading up to this point. And by God’s gift, although like those first disciples we do not see, still we believe: that Jesus Christ is Lord; that he has risen from the dead; that in him we have union with God in eternal life.
And after that: then indeed proofs and miracles came. And they continue to come: miracles of healing and power continuing on through the whole history of the Church, as Christ’s Gospel, and his Kingdom, and his Church, spreads through all the world and through all time.
In our reading today from Acts we heard a speech of St. Peter, given in the house of Cornelius the Roman Centurion. Peter there outlines the mission given by Jesus to his disciples. They have to testify to all people, says Peter, that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. And then, crucially: they must testify that all who believe in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name.
And this is our deepest, most radical need; also in fact the deepest need of the world. Look at the news, or look at the broken, unhappy lives of so many wounded people, and just see how the world manages itself when Christ is absent…
As for us: how are we to respond to Easter? Surely in the first place: simply with joyful praise; joyful, heart-felt thanksgiving; joyful gladness of heart. We praise God for all his goodness, mercy and love, manifested in Christ Jesus our Lord. We thank our Blessed Saviour Himself for all he has done and suffered for us. We rejoice in his gift of salvation, of life, of love. And all of that we gather up in our cry, constantly repeated, especially through the next 50 days - our endlessly varied but also unchanging song, and triumphant cry, of “Alleluia”.