By Fr Francis Gonsalves, SJ –
Easter Vigil & Easter Sunday – April 4, 2021
Readings for the Vigil: Life narratives; Rom 6:3-11; Mk 16:1-7
Readings for Sunday: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9.
“Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again” (Rom 6:9)
Prologue: The Easter liturgy—beginning with the Easter Vigil—presents us with many evocative symbols that span the whole spectrum from creation to sustenance and to final salvation. Three images and keywords – Light, Life, Love – form a tripod upon which Easter liturgy rests. The Paschal candle, waters of baptism and the empty tomb beautifully represent these images.
Three Scriptural Signposts:
- Light and Easter Candle: The Easter Vigil begins with the ‘service of light’. Good Friday hardly seems ‘good’ since evil overpowers good, falsehood eclipses truth, and death seems to triumph over life. The world appears draped in deep darkness. But God dispels the darkness of death and raises Jesus as the ‘Light of the world’. The first part of the Easter Vigil—with the blessing of the new fire and the refrain: “The Light of Christ!” sung thrice as the Easter candle is carried aloft—symbolizes God’s light emerging from darkness. Notice that the Bible opens and closes with references to light.
In the first reading of the Vigil, physical light springs forth as the first created thing that God sees as “good” (Gen 1:3-4) and, at the end of times, God’s light will dispel all forms of darkness, “And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light” (Rev 22:5). In between Genesis and Apocalypse, there is a perennial conflict between light and darkness, as for example in Job’s picture of deposed rulers who “grope in the dark without light” (Job 12:25). Light is also a symbol of goodness and blessing as Jesus explains of evildoers, “who hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed” (Jn 3:20). In John’s ‘Prologue’, God’s Word is metaphorically linked to light frequently (1:4,5,7,8,9), Jesus declares: “I am the light of the world” (8:12) and “I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness” (12:46). Thus, when the betrayer Judas received the piece of bread, “he immediately went out. And it was night” (13:30). Moreover, before encountering the Risen Christ, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb “while it was still dark” (20:1). Surely, it was night for Judas and “still dark” for Mary Magdalene. However, you and me—who have encountered Christ, and who will light our own candles from the Paschal Candle—ought to remember Jesus’ words: “You are the light of the world!” (Mt 5:14). Moreover, the Easter Proclamation (Exsultet) ends with, “May the morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning: Christ, [is] that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all humankind.” May our lamps ever be lit and burning brightly!
- Life and Baptismal Water: The symbol of water comes alive at Easter. In the Vigil’s first reading, “the Spirit of God moves over the face of the waters” at creation (Gen 1:2). Other readings and responses too richly draw on water symbolisms, for e.g., “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isa 12:3), “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness” (Ezek 36:25), and “Like a deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul yearns for you” (Ps 42:1). In the reading from Exodus (14:15-31, 15:1), God parts the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites pass through dry ground while the Egyptians perish. The first reading from the New Testament (Rom 6:3-11) uses the water symbolism, too. More precisely, Paul uses the baptism imagery of being immersed into water and being raised up, cleansed, as representing the death and rising of Christ. He writes, “But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (v.8) … and “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v.11). The new life in Christ is not simply an assurance of a rising to glory in the afterlife but also dying to selfishness and sin. The “liturgy of baptism” and the “renewal of baptismal promises” remind us of our own baptism. Lowering the Paschal Candle into water, the celebrant says, “May all who are buried with Christ in the death of baptism rise also with him to newness of life.” This is an opportune time to resolve anew to reject sin and Satan so that we may be true followers of the Risen Christ and active apostles of Life.
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Love and Empty Tomb: The mystery of the resurrection is ultimately the mystery of love, which even when leading to death, never really dies and gets destroyed, but rises anew with a new power. The Easter Vigil focuses on the gospel according to Mark, where we read that “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him” (v.1). The scene is fraught with fear, uncertainty and doubt: “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (v.3) the women say to themselves. But, the stone “which was very large had already been rolled back” (v.4). The tomb was empty except for “a young man, dressed in a white robe” (v.5)—the ‘white’ suggestive of an angelic figure—who informs them that Jesus “has been raised; he is not here” (v.6) and them entrusts them with a mission: “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee …” (v.7). Certain details of this apparition from Mark’s gospel are striking.
First, Mary Magdalene encountering the Risen Lord is mentioned in five out of six apparitions to Jesus’ disciples testified by all the evangelists—i.e., twice by Mark (16;1-8, 9-20), and once by the other three (Mt 28:1-20; Lk 24:1-12; Jn 20:1-18). Second, by making women the heralds of his resurrection, Jesus seems to be making a ‘poor choice’, since in his day, the testimony of women was not taken seriously and women could not give witness in a court of law. However, could it be perchance that the Risen Christ wanted us all to believe in his gospel not because it was given by ‘reliable men’, so to say, but solely on the reliability of God who reveals? Third, by instructing the women to tell his disciples to go to Galilee, Jesus seems to be drawing them all back to square one. According to evangelist Mark, the ‘love story’ of Jesus with his disciples began in Galilee (1:14-15). He announced his mission in Galilee and called them as they were engaged in their fishing tasks (1:16-20). Now, despite the fact that Peter has denied him and all the others have forsaken him, the forgiving Jesus wants them to set aside their past failures and infidelities and begin anew. Love is always ready to forgive and forget; it seeks to begin anew, daily, with openness to a new tomorrow. Jesus rises, leaving behind an empty tomb. Easter tells us that true love does not terminate in tombs but flourishes in the world’s ‘wombs’ where people breathe hope through movements of freedom and their efforts to recreate a new humanity. Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ s/he is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor 5:17). Easter is feast of love, of newness, of fresh beginnings.
In Lighter Vein: Little Laila prayed: “Dear God, instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t you just keep the ones you got now?” The Risen Lord wants us to keep people alive and active in God’s service. Christ calls each of us to destroy every trace of death, and to replicate the resurrection by our own life, light and love so that everyone, everywhere, may echo that Easter song: “Alleluia, He is risen!” … Happy Easter!
Fr. Francis Gonsalves, SJ is the Executive Secretary, CCBI Comm. of Theology & Doctrine and President, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune and former Principal of Vidyajyoti College, Delhi. He is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. He has authored many books and articles and is a columnist with The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle national dailies.