HOMILY EASTER 2025
JESUS LIVES – THE STORY GOES ON AND WE ALL HAVE A PART IN IT!
Lk 24.1-12 (Jn 20.1-9) AA 10.34,37-43 Rom 6.3-11
This old Leunig cartoon has 3 crosses, Jesus at the centre: “Look at that. Brilliant! You kill the leader and you nip the whole movement in the bud!” Well, it didn’t quite work out that way, did it? So, here we are now, celebrating his enduring presence among us, as we celebrate Easter.
Claude Mostowik MSC quotes mystic Thomas Merton on Easter: “Life is on our side.” “Despite grim times, we can remain hopeful, and the best way to remain hopeful is by doing hopeful things. The empire, the blood, the cross, was not the end of the story. He came to set the oppressed and the oppressors free. Easter is God’s NO to hatred, exclusion, violence, and self-promoting power.”
And Pope Francis, (as did Pope John Paul II, in his dying days) has demonstrated a willingness to show vulnerability and acceptance, in his own humanity, as he has barely survived recent critical illness, a resurrection of sorts, as he was so close to death.
On his return to the Vatican, as Johnson Kotaram puts it: “It was not the papal cassock, the golden cross, or the solemn gaze from a palace balcony that marked April 10, 2025. Instead, it was a fragile old man in a striped poncho, worn black trousers, and oxygen tubing, rolling quietly through the grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica… He didn’t come to be venerated that day. He came to be… wheelchaired into the most ornate church on earth, dressed in an Argentinian poncho reminded us that fragility is not the opposite of faith—it may be its most honest form… That perhaps, in a moment like this, the Church caught a glimpse of what Jesus meant when he knelt to wash feet instead of issuing commands. This was the Pope as a person, as a pilgrim, as a reminder that grace may arrive not dressed in white but in weakness. And maybe, just maybe, that is the Church we need to become.” The imagery is a simple depiction of Francis living his faith and facing his mortality, as we all must do!
Tomas Halik is a Czech priest, theologian and sociologist who was ordained in secret in 1978, a few weeks after I was, such that his he didn’t even tell his mother! He writes of “The Afternoon of Christianity”, where he reflects on the Church’s need to change with, and adapt to, the times and circumstances of modernity, as time keeps moving forward. Coming from a largely atheistic society, he came to faith through questioning the meaning of his life and the world in which he lived. He could see through what he saw as the superficial secular scene, and identified a need for something much deeper, in a troubled, conflicted and confused world.
This he found firstly in the story, but then, in the person of Jesus, perhaps like Paul falling off his horse, experiencing a spiritual encounter with the Jesus of the Gospels, whose continuing presence in human history he could identify in coming to a personal faith. Yet, he saw this as necessarily connected to his life experience in the secular world. After the fall of Communism, he became an advisor to the Czech president Vlacev Havel, formerly imprisoned by the previous regime, in a scenario similar to Nelson Mandela!
Says Halik, in writing of “Patience with God”, which he bases on the story of Zaccheus (which we used for our Lenten Reconciliation service last week): “Without the painful experience of a ‘world without God’, it is hard for us to grasp the meaning of religious seeking, as well as everything we want to say about ‘patience with God’ and its three aspects – faith, hope and love.”
The need for a spiritual dimension to life and practical application of the principals and teachings of Jesus, was something he saw clearly, but without imposition. Rather, he had the conviction that life was to be lived according to a practical faith in worship through prayer and ritual, as well as active demonstration of the values proclaimed by Jesus in his words and actions, and so to lead others to faith by example. And so for us!
Today’s Gospel has Luke describing how the faithful women come first to the tomb of Jesus, only to find it empty. It is they who were first described in the early church as ‘apostles to the apostles’, as they first bring the good news of resurrection to the still fearful apostles and other disciples, who are totally disheartened at the tragic events leading up to Jesus’ arrest, unjust kangaroo court trial, suffering and death. Their hopes were shattered in a moment, after hoping his good news message would bring about a transformation of their world, and so their lives.
Some seemed to think Jesus was going to lead them to freedom the legalistic oppression they felt from the traditional Jewish religious leaders, and maybe from Roman rule too, but when we consider his message, it should have been obvious that this was never the path he was taking them on. There’s nothing to stop wishful thinking, however, is there?
When Peter does turn up to check out the scene, he seems to leave the empty tomb, perplexed and uncertain, even moreso than the women. In John’s account, it is Mary Magdalen alone who comes first to the tomb. Then the unnamed beloved disciple, presumably John himself, who accompanies Peter, and comes to faith first. (Brendan Byrne SJ suggests: “It may be that he is left unnamed precisely so that we can identify with him and enter the story through him.”) Luke has just Peter appearing after the women’s report, but it takes time for the reality to sink in that Jesus is truly risen, reinforced by his appearances to the others in Galilee, of which we hear more in the coming weeks. Today is a call to faith in the Risen Jesus, and to believe that he accompanies us in life as we follow his way, in peace and love, and hope and so, faith lived out in action.
And my story for Easter is about universality, that we all belong, as Jesus shows us, whatever our differences, “Whoever You Are”, by the great Australian author, Mem Fox.
A Happy Easter to all. Buona Pasqua a tutti. Joyeuses Paques a tous, Vesele Velikonoce, Felices Pasquas, Feliz Pascoa, Frohe Ostern, Christos Anesti (Alithos Anesti) or Kalo Pascha, Sretan Uskrs.
john hannon 19th April 2025