Easter Sunday
(Sunday, 27th March 2016)
Jesus has paid your debt – (John 20:1-9)
Next Sunday is Easter Sunday, the last day of the greatest celebration in the Church’s calendar, the Easter Triduum, when we remember Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.
The Sunday Gospel describes the resurrection of Jesus. What is the resurrection all about? Why should I care? If we understand the answers to these questions the significance of Easter will make a lot more sense.
Our story begins with God creating everything: the earth, the animals, Adam and Eve in Paradise. He didn’t create evil, sickness, darkness or death only goodness but gave Adam, Eve and the angels the gift of free will. He wanted them to be free so that they could choose to love. We can’t love if we are not free.
You know what happens next. The Satan uses his freedom to rebel against God. He tempted Eve and she ate the fruit and gave it to Adam and he ate, but not because they were hungry. The serpent told her that if she ate it their eyes would be opened and they would be like Gods! (Genesis 3:5) They eat, they fall and everything goes pear shaped. They lacked nothing in Paradise, walking daily with God and eating from every single fruit bearing bush and tree, bar one. Did they ask for forgiveness? No. Paradise is no longer paradise! They leave Eden and life is so hard. One of their sons Cain kills another, Abel. (Genesis 4) Murder, rape, drunkenness, violence, immorality: so much sin! And then there are the terrible consequences of sin: unhappiness, sickness and death.
What could God as a loving Father do to fix it? To ignore all the sin and say, “It doesn’t matter” would not be just. But to punish all his sons and daughters would not be merciful. So a great and divine plan begins to unfold over centuries to fix the problem of sin and restore man’s perfect communion with God.
The Jewish equivalent of confession was to sacrifice an animal. The idea was, that you were so sorry for what you did that you would take a good animal like a lamb (nothing with 3 legs or mange) and offer it to God. (You weren’t allowed eat it. That wouldn’t be a sacrifice. That would be dinner!) All this sin though: was animals blood enough to make up for it? No. (Isaiah 1:11)
In steps God the Father. “I’ll send my son.” (Luke 20:13) Jesus is born through the Holy Spirit and Our Lady’s yes. Now God the Son has a human body. He is just like us but he is God. He has the solution to sin! He can pay for the damage we have done with His life. He can reconcile the need for justice and God’s desire to show mercy. He is the sacrificed lamb of God. Notice that: He is the lamb that God the Father provides, who can actually take away the sins of the whole world because he, the lamb, is also God. A mere human couldn’t do it.
On Palm Sunday Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem in triumph. They thought he would be a King who would set them free from Roman occupation. He was a King, yes, but who came to free them from sin and bridge the gap between God and mankind by opening his arms on the cross and dying. But if he had simply died, as many others did, he would not have defeated death. Death would have defeated him and He would simply have been another martyr. By His resurrection he shows his victory over sin and death. He is victorious because He is both God and man! One of the acclamations at mass is, “By your cross and resurrection you have set us free.” He truly is the Saviour of the world.
Jesus passion, death and resurrection is the divine solution to sin. It shows us His power and that he is willing to die for us to get us to heaven. How amazing a thought: the creator of the universe thinks we are worth dying for. The gap is bridged and my debt is paid. Jesus has set me free from my guilt. He is risen! Praised be Jesus Christ! Alleluia!
Fr. Patrick Cahill