EASTER SUNDAY


Disciples at an empty tomb

FIRST READING: Acts of the Apostles 10:34, 37-43
We are witnesses to all that he did
I CANNOT HELP but thrill to Peter’s words as he addresses the Gentile Cornelius and his family: “I take it you know what is being reported about Jesus of Nazareth . . . .” Yes, we know! We have heard of his generous love, of his life poured out for the likes of us, of wonders performed and gracious words that speak a new holiness into our world. Peter summarizes the great testimony of courageous love for an audience that he presumes is familiar with the details. In the telling, we can imagine Peter’s radiance and joy (no longer the one who denies but the one who proclaims) and the family of Cornelius catching the awe of this good news.

There are two parts to this happy story, buried earlier in chapter 10. One is the conversion of Cornelius, drawn by a vision to seek the man of God and his message. The other is the conversion of Peter, who also comes to know through a vision that Gentiles are entitled to share this good news as surely as his own Jewish community. It is in the turning of our hearts that the Word of God finds its home, and we our lasting peace.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
A little yeast has its effect all through the dough
MAKING BREAD is hard work, from the measuring, testing, kneading, to the almost divine patience required to wait out the process and allow the “becoming” to happen. Much of the work is ours, to provide the right environment for bread to become. But at a certain time, there is nothing more we can do and we must “possess our souls in patience” and wait upon the bread.

Paul speaks proverbially about the tiny amount of yeast required to effect change throughout the flour. The proverb refers to the influence of evil and its progressively predatory effect. Paul says throw away the old yeast (whatever allegiances you have to old patterns of being), for the corruption of the whole is sure to follow, as fermentation follows the yeast. Bread without the leaven of the world will make a more wholesome food for a community called to wait upon the bread.

GOSPEL: John 20:1-9
He saw and believed
DEFINE EMPTINESS. You may find yourself using words like hollowness, a void, full of echoes. You may talk about meaninglessness, envision spider webs and nobody home. Whatever you may think of emptiness, when we talk about the empty tomb of Easter, we are talking about the most meaningful space ever discovered.

In John's account, Mary Magdalene is once again the first to find the empty tomb, but there are as yet no angels, no Gardener-Lord to explain the mystery. She flees, running at once to Peter and, presumably, John, with the troubling testimony of emptiness. Now it is Peter and John who are running, this time in the direction of emptiness, hoping that their eyes will tell them more than their hearts can presently understand.

They see a hollow space, hear the echo of their own footsteps, see wrappings that wrap nothing. There is truthfully nothing there to see except emptiness. Yet the emptiness contains truth itself, for those who believe. And they do, in the silence of that void, find faith.

It is easy enough to be faithful during epiphanies. But we are called to be disciples in the empty spaces of our lives as well, when only the sounds of our own footsteps accompany us. Can we look into the void and see divine purpose? Can we guess, in our Lord’s apparent absence, the true Presence revealed in an empty tomb?

Questions for Reflection
    • How do you turn your heart in preparation for the gospel?
    • What small amount of yeast in your life may be corrupting the whole of your journey in faith at this time?
    • What are the lessons of emptiness that you have learned at the tomb?

Action Response
Jesus is risen! The promise of new life is spoken, but many of us have not yet heard it. Bring the message of life to someone who needs to know it through you: Visit someone homebound, comfort a friend whose world is darkened by grief, forgive a trespass against you.


These meditations reprinted with permission from God's Word Is Alive: Reflections on the Lectionary Readings for Sundays and Holydays by Alice Camille, For more information on the book or to order, visit the ACTA Publications website or call 800-397-2282.