Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash
Sometimes things happen in our lives that simply feel too good to be true. For me it was my ordination and religious profession. For you it may be the day you got married, or when your children were born. Maybe it was a day when you got a great job promotion, bought a new house, or accomplished a lifelong goal.
As we celebrate the Easter Octave, we encounter in the readings this overwhelming experience of the apostles and disciples of Jesus. He is risen in a new and dramatic way – he is alive! And the apostles and disciples can hardly believe it.
What we learn in these encounters is that it is not that Jesus rose and was simply alive like before. No, this is a radical new life. Mary Magdalene cannot recognize Jesus and thinks he is the gardener. We will see time and again the resurrected Christ is qualitatively different. It takes awhile for the believers to see his glorified self and to recognize him. This resurrection of Jesus is beyond anything they can imagine.
This resurrection of Jesus is validation of the Kingdom of God he preached. It is proof that by cooperating with God’s grace, we can change, the world can be one of justice, and we can live forever. Just like Jesus, we too can die to sin and be raised from the dead.
Let us pray.
Dear Jesus, in your resurrection, we see that we too can be raised to new life. Please help us to see more clearly what it is you do for us. Help us to see the power of your love to change us and to help us turn away from sin. Help us to see more clearly your resurrected presence in a world that is broken. Help us to rise with you to new life. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Music: Cheezy Piano Medley by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4833-cheezy-piano-medley
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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