Easter C (Luke 24:1-12)

On this Easter Sunday of 2022, can I confess to you that I’ve been feeling like having observed the longest Lenten season which began in March 2020 and is finally over as we can celebrate Easter in person? While it is such a joyful occasion to gather in person, we also keep in mind those who died in the past two years due to Covid or other reasons. If there’s one thing that we can take away from this experience of walking through or struggling through at times with fear, anxiety, and loneliness from isolation due to physical distancing, it’s the very presence of one another in which God dwells. We no longer take for granted each other’s presence. Even if we cannot fully take off our masks when gathered inside, the inner light each one of us has radiates through the masks we put on. 

Because we’ve heard and seen so many deaths of the ones we know and some who would be our friends and neighbors, the message of the resurrection is desperately needed more so than ever. As a hospital chaplain, death is not something totally far from me. But when it goes beyond healthcare settings and is too close to the homes of the loved ones, there must be a kind of shield that can protect our loved ones. Of course, vaccines, masks, sophisticated safety protocols, etc. can be but anxiety triggered by fear of death doesn’t just go away that easily. Amid anxiety and fear caused by death, our own as well as that of our loved ones, we need hope. And the resurrection is another word for hope for us Christians. 

In St. Luke’s gospel lesson this morning, we encounter Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women getting up early in the morning and going to Jesus’ tomb with the spices to delay putrefaction. These were the people in despair after witnessing the death of Jesus on the cross. Death seemed to swallow their precious teacher and friend. When two angels in the empty tomb raised the question, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” the women weren’t looking for the living among the dead. They were technically looking for the dead among the dead. They were correct to do so. The angels’ question, however, was to remind them of the resurrection of Christ and to awaken them from hopelessness. 

This particular question of “Why do you look for the living among the dead” echoes the gospel that Jesus proclaims, “The kingdom of God is within you.” We might’ve been looking for the kingdom of God, salvation, true happiness, joy, and resurrection in the wrong place as if we are looking for the living among the dead. I came across this parable of searching in the wrong place in Anthony de Mello’s book, “The Song of the Bird.” My edited version of the story goes like this: 

Jane finds John on hands and knees and asks him, “What are you searching for, John?” John answers, “My Key.” Both of them get on their knees to search. After a while, Jane finally asks John again, “Where did you lose it?” John responds, “At home.” Jane groans, “Good Lord! Then why are you searching here?” John shrugs his shoulders and says, “Because it’s brighter here.”

Looking for the presence of the resurrection after death would be like searching for the key in an irrelevant place. As the risen Christ is no longer locked up in the tomb, death can never suffocate the presence of the resurrection. Then, of course, the real question is how we experience it. Without any personal experience, a theory is just a mere composition of words and sentences. There are two ways to encounter the presence of the resurrection in our lives: external and internal. Both ways are in essence the same in that metaphorically speaking, we are to return to Galilee as two angels reminded the women at the empty tomb. Remember to go back to Galilee where Jesus told them of the resurrection. This metaphorical place of Galilee is when and where we have a sense of gratitude, contentment, and compassion for others. Think of those moments in your relationships with others. When someone appreciates you as you are, or when you appreciate someone as they are, this embrace of the entire being cuts through whatever false images or pretenses we put on ourselves. There’s this death of pretension, fake, made-up self-images through which the light of the resurrection shines. 

This sense of going out of oneself in the act of gratefulness to others is not possible without the power of the resurrection. Going out of oneself or forgetting oneself or giving up one’s selfish desire is a kind of death sentence to that selfish part of ourselves. It’s more like the radiant light of the resurrection removes the sting of death. Now this way of experiencing the reality of the resurrection is external since we take all our chances to be grateful and compassionate to others. 

The internal way is to be searched from within via contemplation. Amy Allen shared an interesting wordplay about contemplation. There’s a temple in the word con-templ-ation. This is an inspiring image of finding a temple within us and building it more sturdily via contemplation. We pay attention to the breath, this flow of energy that is breathed through the Holy Spirit. Staying in the present moment is to refuse to be stuck in the past and the future. Death to the past and death to the future. Our past is gone and our future hasn’t come. In our present moment, we can change the course of our past behaviors and sow new seeds for our future by making changes in our actions here and now. 

So my friends in Christ, where are you looking for the living? Where do you look for your hope? Where do you search for the presence of the resurrection? No need to go anywhere. It’s right here, right now. The risen Christ is not there, but here and now. Amen.

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