Sunday, April 16, 2017

Easter Sunday, Year A, 16.04.2017

Acts 10:34, 37-43 / Col 3:1-4 / John 20:1-9

This weekend is certainly not an ordinary weekend. Besides being a long weekend with Friday being a holiday, some of us have been coming to church every day since Thursday. So we can say that this weekend is a very spiritual weekend, a very churchy weekend.

For instance, there is the new Church of the Transfiguration which had its first Mass on Thursday, there were priests washing the feet of parishioners, people coming to church on a public holiday although it was raining heavily.

But as much as it is a spiritual weekend and a rather solemn weekend, there are some people who can see the lighter side of things.

Someone thought up of a conversation between Pontius Pilate and Joseph of Arimathea.

Pilate: Joseph, I don’t understand. You’re one of the richest man in the region. You have made this brand new tomb for yourself, and now you are going to let Jesus be buried in it. I don’t understand.

Joseph of Arimathea: Oh come on, Pilate. He is just going to be in there for the weekend.

So the word “weekend” now has another shade of meaning. And more than that, the word “tomb” now also has another shade of meaning.

As we look at the gospel accounts over this weekend, we heard of women going to the tomb where Jesus was buried, and then there was an earthquake and an angel came and rolled away the stone and sat on it.

The impression that the women had was that someone had taken the body of Jesus out of the tomb.

And just when the women were wondering what had happened, Jesus appeared to them. Yes, Jesus is alive! Or to be more exact, Jesus rose from the dead.

The tomb was just His weekend resting place, and it is now an empty tomb with the stone rolled away. Yes, Jesus had died but now He is risen! And it is for us to believe in it.

This weekend is not an ordinary weekend for 16 people in our parish. This evening they are here among us dressed in white, looking like the angel who rolled away the stone.

They are going to profess their faith in God and they are going to do it in our presence and then they will receive the Sacrament of Baptism.

For nine months, they have taken the journey of faith and they have “seen” Jesus.

They don’t have the feet of Jesus to clasp but we will have to offer our hands and our hearts to them to help them continue their journey so that together we will experience the Risen Christ and grow in faith.

That is our commitment to them as we ourselves renew our baptismal promises.

And that is also our commitment to Jesus as we renew our baptismal promises.

The stone covering the tomb of sin and death is once again removed so that the Risen Christ can bring us forgiveness and healing.

The Risen Christ wants to empower us to go forth and remove the stones covering the tomb of sin and death so that the light of the Risen Christ can shine in and bring about new life for those who are searching for the truth and the real meaning of life.

This weekend is certainly not an ordinary weekend. It is a weekend of faith, hope and love.

It is with faith, hope and love that the stones of sin and evil, the stones of selfishness and greed, the stones of doubt and pessimism will be removed.

Yes, there are stones to be removed. And the Risen Christ is sending us out to do that. 

That is what the profession of faith and the renewal of baptismal promises are about.

And it is not just for this weekend. It will be for every day.