Vantage Point

‘Not of This World…’

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With Lent more than half over, Palm Sunday and Holy Week will be here soon. We will commemorate the most solemn and significant events in the earthly life of Christ: the Last Supper, the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the Passion, the death and burial of the Lord, and then the culmination of his mission: the Resurrection.

Easter Sunday is the most joyful of Christian feasts, marking the ultimate triumph: Christ’s victory over death. For believers, Easter holds the promise of new life in Christ and salvation in the life to come. Easter celebrates victory after what looked like utter defeat, and hope when all hope seemed lost. It is a time to rejoice in the triumph of the Lord of life.

But I’m finding it harder to rejoice this year. There is so much suffering in the world; so many lives are in turmoil. The vicious persecution of Christians and other minorities in the Mideast is horrific. Political problems there threaten to beget more violence. There are, in the words of Christ, “wars and rumors of wars.” At home we face social and political problems, and we cope with a culture that in some ways is coarse and amoral.

Amid all that, where is the triumph of the Resurrection? Where is the victory? I’m looking to sacred Scripture for answers.

It helps to remember that the Resurrection happened in a world that was torn by conflict just as much as ours is. Rome ruled Palestine and all its territories despotically, and it put down any attempts at overthrow with cruel force.

It also helps me to remember that if I have questions about the Resurrection, I’m in good company; the followers of Jesus didn’t know what to make of it either. Jesus had predicted that he would rise from the dead, but the Apostles and the women who had stood at the foot of the cross were mystified by the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene, weeping, saw Jesus near the tomb, but thought that he was the gardener and asked him where the body was. Thomas, told by the other Apostles that Jesus was alive, declared that he wouldn’t believe it until he put his hands into the Savior’s wounded hands and side. I can’t help thinking that when he did, it was not just devotion but also astonishment that made him exclaim, “My Lord and my God!”

It’s worth recalling that the Apostles and the other early Christians had to launch the Church as best they could, all the while pondering the meaning of what Jesus had said and done. I always remind myself that when Peter preached to the crowd on the first Pentecost and won many converts, he wasn’t waving his copy of the New Testament. It was yet to be written. Evangelization was by word of mouth, and everything had to be discussed, tested, argued, prayed over.

The Gospel of Mark tells us that after the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John came down from the mountain discussing the meaning of “rising from the dead.” I imagine that the early Church kept right on discussing it, even as they spoke among themselves of having seen the Lord truly alive after his death.

Real faith takes more than a recited profession of belief. It’s an interior commitment; it takes time, thought, patience and the humility to acknowledge the limits of human understanding. But the rewards are enormous. All we need to do is look at the lives and writings of the saints and other holy people who have shown us the way.

Jesus, on trial before Pontius Pilate, said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Neither is the victory of the Resurrection. It transcends the world. It is the victory of God, whose ways are not our ways. It happens in the midst of our sins and failings, our sorrows and sufferings. If we make an effort to believe that, God does the rest. If we give him permission, he transforms us.

Happy Easter.