The closed tomb stood for an apparent victory of the wicked. Faced with this tragedy, we wonder: will the darkness and the silence of the grave forever extinguish even the memory of the righteous.
At dawn on Easter Sunday, God responded to this anguished question. In a flash of light, he detonated his life-giving power.
The angel of the Lord sitting on the stone recalls the gesture of the warrior celebrating his victory by sitting proudly on the rampart of the city he has conquered.
Matthew uses this war image to vividly depict the triumph of the Lord over death. The heavenly messenger urges the women not to seek the crucified, but the living and to move away from the place where he was buried.
After the defeat of death, those who have concluded their earthly lives are not to be found in a grave, but in the Father’s house.
Those who have made this discovery must announce it to everyone. The angel of the Lord sends the women: “Go at once and tell the disciples that he is risen from the dead. This is my message for you.”
It is not an easy mission, because one who announces the living one runs the risk of not being believed or even of being laughed at. Only those who have had the intimate experience of a personal encounter with the risen one have the courage to announce it to all.
The women—a symbol of the community—are reassured: “Do not be afraid!” Those who love life need not fear the upsetting interventions of God. He comes to remove all the rocks that sin has placed to protect death.
The heavenly message, directed to the women, is actually directed to all people. It is an invitation to grow in the certainty of the victory of life: never will a righteous person be abandoned; each tomb, like that of Jesus, will be empty.
The forces of death (injustice, oppression, slander, hatred, deceit, cunning…) will not prevail even if, apparently, for a time, they will appear to have the upper hand.
Faced with the great scene of Easter, all the losses and all the tears of the righteous of all times make sense.
The women hastily abandon the place of death and rush to announce to the brothers that Christ is alive. They represent all those who believe in the victory of life and race to witness to their faith.
Faced with the same event, the guards make the opposite choice: as Judas did, they let themselves be corrupted by money.
They are the symbol of those who, even today, for the sake of some material advantage, resign themselves to compromise.
They prefer the lie to the truth, take sides with the powers that be and cooperate with them in an attempt to perpetuate the reign of injustice.
It is true that since Easter people continue to die as before. However, now they know that they will not remain in death: so they will not die. They know that life has a goal—that it is not the night of the grave, but the heavenly light—and that humanity has a destiny: the endless celebration.
Father Fernando Armellini SCJ
Claretian Publications
bibleclaret.org
Translated by Father John Ledesma SDB
Abridged by Father Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
