EASTER SUNDAY: THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD Friends, our Easter Gospel is John’s startlingly concise account of the

4-12-2020 | Bishop Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Friends, our Easter Gospel is John’s startlingly concise account of the Resurrection.

The Easter declaration, properly understood, has always been and still is an explosion, an earthquake, a revolution. For the Easter faith—on clear display from the earliest days of the Christian movement—is that Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jew from the northern reaches of the Promised Land, who had been brutally put to death by the Roman authorities, is alive again through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Once we’ve come to some clarity about the Resurrection claim itself, we can begin to see why it still matters so massively. If the Resurrection is only a bland symbol or a projection of our desires, then tyrants have nothing to fear from it. But if it is a fact of history, an act of the living God in space and time, then sinners have real cause to repent.

A second great implication of the Resurrection is that heaven and earth are coming together. The hope of ancient Israel was not a jail break, not an escape from this world, but precisely the unification of heaven and earth in a great marriage. Recall a central line from the prayer that Jesus bequeathed to his Church: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The bodily Resurrection of Jesus—"the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep"—is the powerful sign that the two orders are in fact coming together.

Reflect: Why is the Resurrection really the startling "Good News" of the Gospel? How does it give you hope to celebrate it today?

[MuttTheHoople]

Of the four Gospels, John's is the only account that goes from start to finish of that day. He was the only disciple present at the crucifixion (my human reasoning on this is, he was still a young boy, 13-15, and also related to one of the Pharisees,so he wasn't perceived as a threat).

He won the race with Peter to see the tomb. He took care of Mary for years after Christ's ascension. He was the only disciple to die of old age. His gospel was the last, dedicated to those Christians in the future who never witnessed Jesus nor knew anyone who met a disciple or a witness to Jesus' earthly ministry.

John knew there would be many heresies that would try to destroy Christianity, or even worse, corrupt it. That's why he was so concise in showing that Christ was not only fully God, but He was also fully human (and not some ghost, or fake-person).

[MurphsLaw]

Agreed for sure. John was the youngest, and lived to be the oldest. It’s also worth noting (especially to those who desire a conjugal Preisthood) that John was probably the only Apostle not of marrying age when Christ chose his Apostles (some already married) for his 3 year mission leading to his Ressurrection. And having walked with Christ unmarried, writing John 6, witnessing the miraculous mystery of God’s Will.... He remained unmarried until his death as a very old man.

[Singermom]

Easter sermon https://worshipanew.org/programs/april-12-2020-the-resurrection-of-our-lord-easter-day

[Mrs. Don-o]

I just so love it when Mary M., after a long and probably sleepless night, blinking back the both the dazzling daybreak and the tears, thinks Jesus is the gardener.