Easter Reflection: Alleluia, He is Risen!

Scripture Readings:
Acts 10: 34a, 37-43
Psalm 118
I Corinthians 5:6b-8
John 20:1-9

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Every year at Easter these words are said by Christians around the world. We rejoice as a community that our Lord Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and has proclaimed to us his promise of everlasting life.

I must begin this reflection by confessing that I am not much of an Easter kind of guy. I realize that this might sound a bit shocking, but here's the deal; I'm much more of a Good Friday kind of guy. You see, I connect well with Jesus' passion, the pain he endured for my sake, and the statement that God made to all eternity through his son's death on the cross. “I did this because of my love for you” is what I hear God saying to me, and to all of creation, on Good Friday. But the fact is, without Easter, Good Friday is emptied of all its meaning. You simply cannot be a Good Friday kind of person without first being an Easter kind of person.

Without Easter, Jesus is just another man who caused too much trouble, got on a few too many people's nerves, and paid for it with his life. Stories like that are not all that uncommon in history. But Easter reveals Jesus for who he is, reveals the cross for what it is and reveals us for who we are.

To Jesus' disciples, the cross must have been pure foolishness. It seems clear from the Gospels that Jesus and the disciples had a pretty good idea of what a visit to Jerusalem could mean. From the disciples' perspective, a visit to Jerusalem would be dangerous, and if it had to be undertaken, it should be done in as understated a way as possible. But, instead of being inconspicuous, Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and causing a scene. This was not a very good idea in a city with a history of squashing uprisings and bringing quick endings to prophetic careers. Perhaps the disciples thought Jesus was confused, misguided, or just didn't value his life a whole lot. At any rate, they were probably troubled by Jesus' actions.

So when Jesus was condemned to death, what could it have been but foolishness? Jesus had been making a pretty good run at healing and preaching out in the rural areas, and had, at times, attracted some very large crowds. Why on earth would he be so insistent on going to Jerusalem, and to top it off, causing a raucous while he was there?

Easter puts the cross in perspective and reveals it for what it is. The cross was not foolishness, it is the most profound encounter with God's love humanity has ever experienced. It was not a result of a prophet whose miscalculations led to his death, but was an act of redemption with eternal significance. Easter reveals that Jesus was not just another prophet put to death for speaking out against the wrong people, he is the Messiah, the savior of the world.

Without Easter, Jesus was still a profound moral teacher, a healer, an exorcist, and a prophet. But ultimately, he was still a foolish man who should have known enough to avoid such a gruesome and untimely end. But through the Resurrection we are enabled to see the truth for what it is. Christ didn't come to reveal our need for a better system of ethics, he came to reveal our total dependence on God. Christ didn't die foolishly, he died to reveal God's boundless love for all creation (which includes you and me). Christ's death reveals the world's weakness and God's strength. The Resurrection makes known to us an entirely new understanding of reality in which our perceptions of foolishness and wisdom are set aright. It is a reality that calls us not to see through the eyes of the world, but through the eyes of God.

In a passage from 1 Corinthians, which will be read on Easter Sunday, we hear the truth proclaimed that our understanding of the world is deeply flawed and is only set aright through Christ.

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

As we celebrate Christ's Resurrection this Sunday, and in the coming weeks, may we all be Easter people, setting our eyes on Christ, the risen one, the savior of the world.

By Jake Kohlhaas

Jake is a Bernardin Scholar at Catholic Theological Union and is currently working as the youth minister for Edison Park Lutheran Church in Chicago.