Tuesday, I Easter
(John 20)
In its beginning the Gospel According to John states that Jesus empowered all who accept him to become God’s children. Now at the end of the gospel the words are seen fulfilled. Jesus tells Mary Magdalene to go to his “brothers” and say that he is going to my Father and their Father, my God and their God.
The disciples believed in Jesus since his turning water into wine at Cana. Now, however, they are brought to a greater realization of what their faith means. Jesus not only has power over death but can use death to bring people to glory. It is like a baseball rivalry, say between the Giants and the Dodgers. One team, say the Giants, not only beats the Dodgers in every series the two teams play but turn the Dodgers into their most rabid fans. For this reason St. Paul will write that he never wants to boast of anything except the cross of Jesus Christ.
Death remains fearful in so far as we lack perfect faith. But we are not failures if we fear it. No, we are only displaying the frailty of our nature. Just as seven weeks ago we were wondering how we would do without chardonnay or chocolate during Lent, we hesitate to embrace death now. But when it is time and we accept death as the door to eternal life, we will see that it is not the beast we fretted. On the contrary, it will allow us to be happier than we ever dreamed.
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