By Leon Bent –
To believe that the “Lord is Risen” is to believe that He is present to us in a radical and miraculous way. His powerful presence is accessible only by faith — this is because He has ascended into heaven. Such is the substance of our hope. When we cleave to Him by faith, because His presence is real and personal, He raises us up with Him.
When Mary Magdalene calls out to the Risen Lord, He tells her not to cling to Him because He has not yet ascended to the Father. He sends her — the Apostle to the Apostles — to his Apostles to announce to them the Resurrection. His words reveal that someday she will possess Him in a more palpable and marvellous way — but He must ascend from the midst of this life first, so that, this new presence can be known. She will have the fullness of faith when the Holy Spirit descends on her. By the faith the Holy Spirit produces, Mary Magdalene will be raised up to new life – and she will be able to cling to the ‘One’ she loves — and who loves her even more!
Nevertheless, even though Mary Magdalene cannot yet cling to Him, the faith of the Apostles is stirred by her message. They run to find the empty tomb and encounter the Lord for themselves. They hear His voice and speak to Him. They see His body. They touch his wounds. They eat with Him. But they cannot yet cling to Him.
Resurrection is the New Humanity
Christian faith is not a self-generated psychological exercise. It is part of the new creation, the new humanity which the Risen Lord has established by His victory; his Gift of the Holy Spirit produces faith. This is why He ascended into Heaven. The Giver of Life could only descend on us if Christ ascended to His Father.
The Resurrection was not a mere restoration of an earthly paradise — it creates access to heaven. This is a new humanity, with power that exceeds what this world can contain, which is filled with what is eternal.
What about us, here and now? The Risen Jesus longs that we be where He is; at the right hand of the Father. Now we can only cling to Him by faith.
Christian contemplation and theology converge on the objective and personal presence of the Risen Lord. By objective, we know He is present to us quite apart from whether we feel or imagine Him. By personal, we know that our faith opens up a real heart-to-heart relationship with Him. This is not fairy-tale stuff — it is the substance of our hope.
This objective and personal faith is not limited to knowing things about the Lord; the Christian faith discloses the mysterious depths of God, so that, we can really know Him and His great love. To know these depths, to plummet them in prayer, to search them in sacred doctrine — such things raise us up with Him, so that, we might dwell with him. In all this the fullness of joy is ours, even now in a hidden way, here below. The banquet has begun in mystery, and all this as we learn to cling to Him.
Open your heart in faith to Christ and his promises. You are destined, if you do so, to share Christ’s own life: you are to be resurrected as he is resurrected; you are to live a life of unending love as he does; you are to live forever in eternal communion with God, the Father. What beauty lies before you!
He is Risen! Alleluia! Amen!
Now, this Gold Nugget: “Through the resurrection humankind came to believe in God in a new way; man’s relationship to God was changed; a whole new vision of God and His intention for humanity was made possible; the whole flow of time and history was redirected. Nevertheless, too much stress on the bodily resurrection keeps us from defining the resurrection solely in terms of what God has done for men. The resurrection was and remains, first of all, what God has done for Jesus. It was not an evolution in human consciousness, nor was it the disciples’ brilliant insight into the meaning of the crucifixion – it was the sovereign action of God glorifying Jesus of Nazareth. Only because God has done this for His Son have new possibilities opened for His many children, who have come to believe in what He has done” (The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, Raymond Brown – “for nearly 40 years Father Brown caught the entire church up into the excitement and new possibilities of scriptural scholarship”).
The Punch Line! He is Risen! He is Risen! Alleluia! Amen! That is the best news we can possibly tell a dying world!
And, this final flourish! The Bible speaks of creation as virtually the finger-painting of God, while the resurrection of Christ required the strong arm of God! It is His mighty work!
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi.