Tuesday in the Octave of Easter
(John 20:11-18)
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 we can see his words come to fulfillment. Jesus tells Mary Magdalene to inform his “brothers” and say that he is going “to my Father and your Father...”
The disciples have believed in Jesus since his turning water into wine at Cana. Now, however, they are being brought to a deeper dimension of faith. They will see Jesus not only with power over death but also with the facility to use death to accomplish his end of drawing others to himself. It is like the Greek rhetorician Demosthenes who, it is said, not only corrected a speech impediment by practicing to speak with stones in his mouth but also used this achievement to secure a place in Athenian politics and world history. Because Jesus’ accomplishment is much more magnificent, St. Paul writes 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. We are only displaying the frailty of our human nature. Just as seven weeks ago we were wondering how we would do without chardonnay or chocolate during Lent, we hesitate to contemplate our death now. But when it is time to enter death as the door to eternal life, we will likely see that it is not the beast that we once dreaded. On the contrary, it will give us passage to a greater happiness than we have ever dreamed.
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