Letters From Timothy

I hope you had a wonderful Easter! It’s been a long journey, but hopefully there were Peeps at the end. More importantly, Jesus has risen!

The Catholic church, which I base my homily schedule on, has three different readings for this day (John 20:1-9, Mark 16:1-7, or Luke 24:13-35). This year, I’ll focus on the one that I heard last night during the Easter Vigil at my church, from the Gospel according to Mark.

I like this reading for several reasons, which I’ll get to in a moment. First, a quick synopsis of what happened, since this part of scripture can be a bit confusing: Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother Mary, and a disciple named Salome come to Jesus’ tomb to perform a customary anointing for his body. It was early in the morning on the first day of the week (Sunday, according to the Church), and they were worried about how they were going to move the enormous boulder that was in front of his tomb. This is important, because the boulder was apparently heavy enough that one or even a handful of people would not be able to move it (note the inclusion of the blunt ‘it was very large.’ This is why the women are astonished when they find it has already been moved aside. Fearing that Jesus’ body has been stolen, they enter the tomb to find a teenager sitting inside of it clothed in a white robe. Instantly understanding who they were looking for, he tells them in no uncertain terms that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and instructs them to tell Peter and the other disciples that Jesus will meet them in Galilee, just as he said he would in Mark 14:28.

I like this story because it involves the direct participation of the women, which the Luke reading does not, and it features a mysterious “young man,” which the reading from John does not. Who is the mysterious “young man?” Accounts from various Gospels differ. In Luke 24:4, it is instead two men who appear (also, the woman Joanna, instead of Salome, is identified as with the two Marys). The reading from John says the women had a “vision of angels,” so we may assume that this young man is an angel.

The differences between the versions (and there are, of course, several more) is one reason to keep in mind that even the Gospels are the work of man, though they are divinely inspired. The accounts in the Gospels, like the rest of the Bible, were spread orally countless times before being committed to writing.

Of course, none of that is as important as the simple fact that Jesus Rose from the Dead. Many Christian and Scriptural scholars have tried to make the case that the idea of a man rising from the dead was inconceivable at the time that it would have occurred, and that thus the story is unlike to have been fabricated. Of course, others contend that it was, in fact, fabricated, and have even identified potential burial sites for Jesus’ remains. This makes the resurrection, like most other things in Christianity, a matter of faith. But unlike any other thing in Christianity, this belief is central to Christianity, and is the foundation for all other faith. To not accept that Jesus was raised from the dead is to not only surrender that he was not divine, but to surrender that he had any divine purpose whatsoever. Indeed, some contend that Jesus was just a man, but that his mission was designated by God.

Regardless, Jesus’s conquering of death is essential to the entire concept of Christianity, which contends that his victory means that we, too, may conquer death and live forever because of his work.  Think about that. Everything Christians believe…the redemption of salvation of mankind, the fulfillment of God’s covenant, the promise of a new Heaven and Earth, the possibility of eternal life…all because Jesus died, and then did what no one else had done, and has done since: didn’t stay dead.

That’s amazing. Be sure to pay him your gratitude, and have a wonderful Easter.

-Timothy