Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR B EASTER SUNDAY Acts 10,34.37-43; Col 3,1-4; Jn 20,1-9 For
Easter, this year
Easter
Experience:
If Easter reminds us only of Easter Buns & Bunnies - Easter Eggs &
Cards, Easter Banquets with lots of exquisite eating and drinking... it’s well
& good but rather poor: poor Jesus, poor Easter and poor Christianity. We
know that Easter has a far loftier meaning: it’s a religious experience, the deepest
experience of our faith. In it we celebrate, (recalling, grieving and regretting) the event of
Jesus’ tragic death on the cross. At the same time, we feel and respond in
love to our Risen Lord, who - now as always- is with us, ahead of us on our
journey of life. Again this year we
are invited to tap into our ancient Christian tradition, and appreciate how
Christ’s death & resurrection affects the deepest recesses of our being;
indeed our feelings, attitudes and convictions. One way to understand Easter is to place side by side the two opposing
logics, with which we are constantly challenged: the logic of justice, vengeance
and retaliation and the logic of forgiveness and generosity. The first logic is
well described in the Old Testament ‘Lex Talionis’ or retaliation: eye for
eye, tooth for tooth (Ex 21,24; Lev 24,20; Mt 5,38). This logic can operate
-unbending and implacable- on all our actions: it forms - compels - controls -
prohibits - threatens - punishes... As a matter of fact, even when we might
escape detection or criticism from other people, this logic lashes out from
inner guilt, driving us to the very hedge of suicide. This destructive logic is
based on a do or die attitude, it has no time for compassion. It is typical of
those who stay strong at the expense of others; conquer and impose subjection under a cover of law &
order. Easter
is a way of life. Christianity
can never adopt the retaliation logic. The very reason why Jesus accepted the
death on the cross was to oppose retaliation and propose the logic of
forgiveness. For Easter this year, Jesus invites us (literally and exactly as he
did it himself!) to pour out our life so that
others and especially our dear ones may have life in abundance. This logic is
also called ‘Law of Unconditional Love’. St Paul describes it in a famous
text (1Cor 13,4+): love is patient, is kind, is not envious or boastful or
arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or
resentful... It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things. Love never ends. As we celebrate Easter, we all hope to follow the
example of our Lord, as he proclaims his pardon from the cross, and especially
as he challenges us to adopt the logic of forgiveness, which of course is never
easy to accept and follow. At times it may seem a logic based on weakness, and
indeed many times our godless Western Culture has seen Jesus as ‘that Pale
Galilean who threw the cross upon us and shouted: carry it and serve!’. But
upon deeper reflection, the logic of unconditional love is the only one worth
abiding by. Fortunate are we if -in the spirit
of Easter- we see ourselves as people who nurture and promote an ability
to love dearly - to suffer with those who suffer - to embrace those who,
rightly or wrongly, are hurting. And fortunate are we, if we can say to people
who are different from us: I accept you, different as you are, as special as the
Lord has made you; please remain as he has made you!... Sadly there is in us an
instinct to impose, form and force on others what we think is ‘The Rule’.
Perhaps, behind our claim for law and order, we hide a low self-esteem, a
desire to save face or life-style at all costs. A
wish for Easter: this
year, as we are still at war, may our Lord inspire us with thoughts of esteem, respect, forgiveness, sense of worth, even love and
affection for all.
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