Sunday, April 12, 2009 by Fr. Ed Oen

Sunday, April 12, 2009, Fr. Ed Oen

Each year, many Catholic schools put on an Easter pageant. Recently, I read about a fifth grade class as they prepared to put on their pageant. The teacher, Miss Burn, gave the boys and girls their roles: Peter, John, Mary the Magdala, etc. But she had a slow learner by the name of Johnny and she said, “Johnny, you be the rock and sit in front of the tomb.” This would be an easier part. He had no words to say. All he had to do is to play the role of the boulder in the way of the tomb. At the dress rehearsal, Miss Burn realized that everyone was dressed up in pageant clothing, with special garments. There sat Johnny in front of the tomb. And so the teacher called, “Johnny, wouldn’t you rather be Joseph of Arametheia and dress up like the other students?

Johnny said, “No I am happy being this rock.” He said, “Except for Jesus I have the most important role in the play." Johnny said that if the rock were moved, people would be able to look in to see the empty tomb. The teacher was a little flabbergasted because she didn’t think that Johnny understood that Jesus could go through a wall, and not have to go trough the stone to rise from the dead.

The very first person at the tomb in today’s gospel is Mary of Magdala. She looked in the tomb and saw it was empty. Her first reaction was that the body of Jesus had been stolen. So she hurried to others to announce that the body had been stolen. Peter and John began to run to see the tomb itself. Peter was in disbelief. John took a look and said he believed.

Jesus rose from the dead with a completely new body. That body was different from the body the disciples were used to seeing.

Our faith brings us together today because of our belief in the Resurrection – that Jesus is alive. Jesus is among us. Jesus loves us.  Through baptism, we became members of God’s family and His church. We were baptized into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This morning we are going to renew our baptismal promises. In these vows, we express our faith in God the Father. Then, we will be sprinkled with Holy Water, reminding us of our baptism. We don’t have to wait until we die to rise up and put on Christ. In the Creed, we thank the Lord for the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, and we ask God that we too will rise from the dead and live ever after. So this morning, we can leave church, recognizing that Jesus has risen from the dead – but that we too will rise from the dead. Some day Jesus will roll back that stone on our graves. The tombs over here north of the church will no longer exist. New bodies will rise and people will see one another and see how beautiful they are, how glorified they are. The Resurrection means that our relationships with one another will have survived the Old Testament; we will be reunited body and soul with God forever. This morning, we have reasons today to sing out “Alleluia” with means, “Praise the Lord!”  'Hallel' is the Hebrew word for 'praise', and 'Yah' is the short form or abbreviation of 'Yahweh’ - the name for God.

We sing out “Alleluia, Alleluia” – Praise the Lord.”  Jesus has conquered not only sin but He has conquered death.