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 While the Resurrection is the focal event in the New Testament, the gospels give us no description or image of Christ rising triumphantly from the dead. There are no words to describe the rolling back of the stone or the radiant figure emerging from the tomb as the new day gloriously dawns. Instead of such an exhilarating portrayal, the gospels confront us with the stark reality which the women and then Peter and John encountered: the empty tomb yawning like an ugly black wound in the hillside.
Before any encounter with the Risen Christ, Jesus’ closest followers had to confront the empty tomb. The mysterious messengers’ challenge, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised,” brings more confusion than light. We might be tempted to speculate why they were not called to witness the moment of resurrection as they had witnessed him dying on the cross and his lifeless body being laid to rest. Or why didn’t the Risen Christ simply appear immediately to them as he did later to Mary, or to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or to all those gathered in the upper room that evening. Why is it significant that first they had to experience the darkness and emptiness of the tomb?
The significance of the Resurrection is not that it is a spectacular and even miraculous reality of human history but that it is an event of faith. Christ was not simply returned from the dead, in a manner similar to his calling Lazarus from the tomb. That would be a tremendous event, beyond our experience, even more extraordinary than the first successful transplant of a human heart. It would be an amazing event, but it would not necessarily change human hearts. Some events astound us and make us catch our breath in awe. But few have more than a passing influence on our lives.
The Resurrection of Christ from the dead is much more than a tremendous miracle proving his divinity and Sonship. We can measure the impact of the Resurrection only insofar as we experience its reality in ourselves. There is an expression that says “All politics is local.” No matter what great national consequences an event may have, the response is determined by its impact on people according to the way they will experience it in their own lives. The beginning and lasting significance of the Resurrection proclaimed in the Gospel is less about how it affected Jesus Christ and more about how it affected Mary Magdalene, Peter, the apostles, and other disciples. How did the realization that he is risen change their lives? Being witnesses of the Resurrection does not mean having been present at the moment the body of Jesus was no longer laying dead in the tomb but experiencing the living and transformed Christ. It is the encounter with the Risen Christ that changes the believer, uniting her or him with the victory over sin and death and filling them with the life which will become total life.
The New Testament focuses our attention on these encounters with the Risen Christ and the transformation which then begins to take place. At first there is confusion and lack of understanding followed by seeds of comprehension and then transformation. The Risen Lord calls Mary by name, reality floods into her heart, and she calls out, “Rabbouni.” The disciples on the road to Emmaus recognize him in the breaking of bread and recall how their hearts were burning as he explained from the Scriptures the significance of his suffering and death. Thomas, touching the wounds, exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” And Peter, on the shore of the lake, is filled with the new life of the Risen Lord as he affirms three times, “Lord, you know I love you!” and is told, “Feed my sheep.”
Each of them had first to experience the empty tomb, whether personally or through the word of those who had. Only by personally encountering the Risen Lord does the confusion and bitterness gradually give way to belief. Their assent is not an academic or theoretical acknowledgment of some abstract truth but a personal commitment to a reality they had not imagined. Evil and death had not destroyed Christ; nor would these destroy them. Only a Messiah who would suffer and give his life could show the meaning and value of our suffering. They had to struggle with confusion and allow the Risen Lord to overcome bitterness and disillusion. Perhaps only slowly did the full reality sink in and give meaning to the empty tomb they had first experienced.
There would be other times and circumstances when the memory of the darkened tomb would threaten to overcome their thoughts and threaten their existence and purpose. But the encounter with the Risen Christ is a transforming experience that is in fact stronger than hatred, ignorance, anger, and injustice. As we renew our baptismal commitment on Easter Sunday, we remember that we are an Easter People. It is this, not an empty tomb, that identifies and defines who we are.
Fr. David Foxen, MSC
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