Easter: Jesus Won

Easter: The Church Reminds Us that Jesus Won

Back in the 1960’s William Bell sang a song, “Everybody Loves a Winner.” The first verse went as follows: “Once I had fame/ Oh I was full of pride/ Had lots of friends/ Always here right by my side/ Well my fame, oh it died/ Now my friends all try to hide/ Everybody loves a winner/ Everybody loves a winner/ But when you lose, you lose alone.” In the boxing world at the end of the fight the referee raises the hand of one of them and, in a booming voice, shouts, “And the winner is …!” Winners get all the accolades while losers disappear into the crowd. Easter is all about winners and losers. Jesus was the winner and Satan was the loser. In Jesus, life won over death, good conquered evil, hope overcame despair, sin was defeated by grace, and the followers of Jesus were given a bright future in which to hope. On Easter Sunday morning, at the end of the fight between good and evil, Jesus’ Church joyfully announces to the whole world: “And the winner is Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, God’s Word-made-flesh, the Saviour of the world.” The loser is the devil skulking in the background with his power over mankind crushed forever. But, like a beaten dog, Satan still remained ready to bite anyone who let him come near them.

Easter Sunday is the highpoint of the Catholic Church’s Liturgical year. It’s the day we’re reminded that God has rescued us from Satan’s evil claws. It’s the day when we’re able, as Christians, to proclaim from our heart in the words of the Psalmist: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it” (Ps 118:24). Easter is the celebration of a hard-fought victory over sin and death by Jesus who sacrificed Himself in behalf in order to reconcile humanity with divinity that was ruptured by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is the most joyful occasion for those who’re baptized into Jesus’ Church and those who are seeking Him. Paradoxically, it was by taking on suffering and death that Jesus demonstrated life’s victory. The Holy Spirit raises our consciousness through St. Paul that if we die to the world as Jesus died on the Cross for us He will raise us up from the grave as the Father raised Him from the tomb: “Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. Through baptism into His death we were buried with Him, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. If we have been united with Him through likeness to His death, so shall we be through a like resurrection” (Rom 6:3-5). Are you a Christian? Do you see yourself as a winner? If you practise your Christian Faith you are definitely a winner. As Christians we aren’t like groupies hanging around some celebrity. We, through Baptism into His Church, were adopted by Jesus as His brothers and sisters, and given the grace to be like Him, following in His footsteps, doing His will as outlined in the Commandments and the Beatitudes until we meet Him as our Judge the day we die. For His is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory now and forever.

Jesus Is the Victor

St. Peter tells us how Jesus, God’s promised Messiah, conquered sin and death. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses of all that He did … They put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree. This Man God raised on the third day and granted that He be visible to us … who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead” (Acts 34, 37-43). Satan tempted man and woman to “be like gods” but independently of God and so doomed mankind to eternal death. What Satan didn’t tell them was they could not be like gods because they would have no power without God. It signalled the end of the peace and happiness for which God created man and woman that was now marred by suffering and death. Jesus restored the possibility of achieving peace and happiness through His death and Resurrection. Jesus during His public ministry restored peace and happiness to those who believed in Him.

From Grief to Consolation

Mary Magdalene is one example of the hope and the peace that Jesus instilled in those who believed in Him. She found in Jesus the kind of love that restored her dignity and gave her a sense of her God-given beauty that she never knew or felt before. She was at peace in His company. Good Friday for her was not a good day. She watched the only One who gave her hope now bleeding and hanging from the cross, lifeless. She felt helpless and bereft. Unable to sleep she rose early on Easter Sunday morning and came to Jesus’ tomb. Imagine her consternation when she found the tomb empty. Who robbed her of this one last act of reciprocal love for Jesus by perfuming His dead body? Remember she previously washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointed them with expensive oil as He sat at a banquet. Now, lost in her grief Mary sat weeping beside the empty tomb. Miraculously, through her tears, she beheld two angels who questioned her, “Woman, why are you weeping” (Jn 20:13)? Startled, she replied, “Because the Lord has been taken away, and I don’t know where they have put Him” (v 14). Then she turned around and saw a man she thought was the gardener who asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for. She pleaded, “Sir, if you are the one who carried Jesus’ body off, tell me where you have laid Him and I will take Him away” (v 15). Then the man called her name. Only one Person had ever spoken her name with such love – “Mary”. Immediately ,she recognized Jesus – crying out, “Rabouni –Teacher” – and joyfully raced to Him throwing her arms around Him, almost crushing the life out of Him, so much so that He gently responded, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God!” (v 17).

Enjoy Easter with Mary Magdalene

To really appreciate Easter you and I need to put ourselves in Mary Magdalene’s shoes. She went from the depths of loss to the heights of gain, from the pain of grief to the joy of consolation. She went from feeling like an unfortunate loser to being a fortunate winner. The thrill of meeting the resurrected Jesus rang out as she informed the Apostles, “I have seen the Lord!” The Risen Jesus replaced her drooping spirit of grief with a soaring spirit of hope. Hope springs eternal. This is what Jesus does for all His followers. He changes us from being losers to being winners. So St. Paul brings us down to earth by cautioning us: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Co 3:1-4). Yes, everybody loves a winner, and Jesus is the greatest Winner the world has ever or will ever know? With Him we win; without Him we lose. Who don’t more people understand this? Jesus Himself during His public ministry revealed, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I in him, will produce abundantly, for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). Have a joyful Easter. (fr sean)

St. Augustine: “It is completely useless to pursue a Christian end except by Christians means.” “One world is impossible without one God and one Church.”