Coming to Believe

The Catholic Liturgy for Easter Sunday, Gospel: John 20:1-9. Theme: Coming to Believe…

Today's awesome celebration of Easter places before us the central truth of Christianity:  the real, historical, physical Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s a strange thing, indeed, to believe that a man who was tortured, killed and buried, has risen from the dead to more a powerful, glorious and real life.

And to be honest about it, it’s impossible to take at face value.  People die and are buried. They do not then suddenly rise up out of the grave!  As a matter of fact, this claim seems so foolish that people have tried to raise objections to the Resurrection ever since it first happened. But the evidence of the empty tomb, and the eye-witness experiences of over 500 disciples for 40 days after that first Easter, is just too strong to ignore.

As we hear in today’s Gospel the tomb of Jesus was found empty about 36 hours after he was buried.  Let’s pause here for a moment and recall a bit of the backstory that leads up to this discovery.  After Jesus was removed from the cross, his mother and several disciples placed his corpse in a cave tomb. It was the evening of the Sabbath which forbid working, so they could not properly prepare his body for burial.  One of the disciples, Mary Magdalen, took notice of the tomb’s location so that she could return on Sunday morning, after the Sabbath, to complete the burial ritual.

Once she discovered that the tomb empty she ran in panic to tell Peter, the leader of the disciples and John, Jesus’ best friend. And we heard what their was reaction in today’s Gospel. You know, I think that each one of us are very much like the Peter and John on that first Easter Sunday. We have been told that Jesus is risen, but we have not seen it for ourselves. We have evidence that it could be true, but it seems so unbelievable.  And so, like them we also have to pass through a process of coming to believe…

Perhaps in this process of coming to believe we might be like John who saw the empty tomb and came to believe right away.  He had no need for further proof or evidence.  He was the only one of the twelve apostles who stood faithfully by Christ. He even followed Jesus to his trial, though at a distance, which he recorded for us in his gospel. John stood at the foot of His cross with the Blessed Mother on Good Friday even though the others had run away. His love and fidelity seems to have been rewarded with this gift of Easter faith.

But I think that most of us are more like Peter, who came to believe in a series of steps. He had witnessed all that Jesus had done, he had seen the miracles – the blind being given sight, the deaf suddenly able to hear, the paralyzed getting up and walking. But still…this news of Resurrection seemed so impossible, a bit too much!

He listened to what Mary Magdalen had to say and then he ran – not walked but ran - to the tomb to check out the evidence. He was eager to investigate. Afterwards, he went home and pondered these things. We can be sure He prayed, asking God for the grace to be able to come to believe.  And “come to believe” he did! He would go on to labor as one of the boldest preachers of the Resurrection as well as the first Pope.  And he would die a martyr himself by being crucified for his faith in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ!

Do we have this eagerness of Peter? His urgency to check out the evidence? His sincere desire to come to believe? Have we followed his example? Do we take up the Gospel and really ponder it with our hearts? Or do we just listen to what we have come to think of as “the same old story” Easter after Easter? Do we truly consider the eye-witness experiences that the New Testament records, taken from those who personally saw and touched and spoke and ate with the Risen Lord Jesus for 40 days?  Do we realize that these are historical facts and not simply Christian fairy tales?

Faith in Jesus, belief in reality of his Resurrection, is a supernatural gift. It is not something we can make happen, nor is it something we can purchase or earn. We can spend year after year celebrating Easter but still feel unsure, doubtful inside. We have to come to believe that there is One Who is greater than ourselves Who can overcome whatever doubts we have. And then we must take a step forward in trust, turning our lives, our minds, our hearts and our wills over to the care of this One Whom we call the Risen Lord.

He is ready and willing to touch and transform those who open their minds to the truth about who he really is… He is ready and willing to give light to those who open their eyes to the evidence that he is risen indeed…and ready and willing to works a miracle of transformation from the inside out for those who open their hearts to the power of His love.