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Station #4 of the Resurrection Story

Station #4 of the Resurrection Story

Station #4 ….. Jesus is Raised from the Dead

(Matthew 28:1) After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned…”

(Mark 16:1-5) When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?” Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back – it was a huge stone – and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.

(Luke 24:1-3) At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.

(John 20:1-2) Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they have put him.”

Worth a Thousand Words: Christ Rising, a bronze sculpture by Frederick Hart.

A Reflection:

The Resurrection is, first and foremost, the act of infinite tenderness by which the Father, after the terrible suffering of the Passion, revived his Son from death by means of the Holy Spirit and made him Lord. It is the cry with which God, after holding back and putting up with violence for a long time, finally breaks his silence. The Father, to express it in human terms, drew near to Jesus in the tomb just as someone here would gently draw near the crib of a child who is sick or sleeping, and awoke him from the sleep of death. The gospel tells us that Jesus one day came upon the casket of a young man who had died and cried out, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” and the young man sat up, and Jesus returned him to his mother (Luke 7:14). Now it is the Father who comes near to the tomb of Jesus and cries out, “Son, I say to you, arise!” and Jesus sits up and arises. The Father is the one who resurrects, the Son is the resurrected one, and the Holy Spirit is the resurrection itself. The action of the Father is the source of the greatest hope for us, because it declares in advance what he will one day also do for us. (from Contemplating the Trinity, by R. Cantalamessa)

Resurrection, Present Tense:

Who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for – who was raised to life for! – is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s loveĀ for us? There is no way! (Romans 8:34-35)