Easter Sunday – Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

“On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, ‘They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.’ So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (Luke 24:1-12).
 
Seeing the stone removed from the tomb, Mary was fearful and upset that someone had taken Jesus’ body. She ran for help to the other disciples, who loved Jesus as she did. In the end, they really couldn’t offer any help to her. They “saw and believed” but “did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
 
Faith in the resurrected Christ, the faith that we celebrate on Easter – the greatest feast of our Church year – is not something we can easily grasp. We can’t “master” it and move on with our lives. Even the disciples, who traveled with Jesus, experienced a lack of understanding and uncertainty.
 
We can easily find ourselves in similar situations in which we experience doubt or questioning. These situations are the keys for us to develop our relationship with God, who is infinite yet close at hand; who is divine yet sends his Son to assume our humanity; who is the source of wisdom yet respectful of free will.
 
No matter what we think we know about God, there is always more to know, to experience, and to be surprised by. It is in these times of believing, yet not fully understanding, that we come to know God even more.
 
When have you experienced fear, confusion, or a lack of conviction in life? How were you able to find God in that situation?
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Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International.