Alive In The Flesh

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐀𝐜 𝟐:𝟏𝟒, 𝟐𝟐-𝟑𝟑

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟔:𝟏-𝟐𝐚, 𝟓, 𝟕-𝟏𝟏 “𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞, 𝐎 𝐆𝐨𝐝; 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟐𝟖:𝟖-𝟏𝟓

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝.” (𝐯.𝟖) 

         When you read this Gospel passage or any scripture passage for that matter, one of the most meaningful ways to appreciate what you are reflecting on is to close your eyes and imagine that you are right there where these events happened. Imagine and put yourself right there in the company of those who went to the tomb of Jesus and found it to be empty. How would you feel if you found the stone rolled back and an angel sitting on it?

         You would probably feel the same way that the two Mary’s felt - one was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary was either the wife of Clopas (𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟗:𝟐𝟓) or the mother of James and John (𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟐𝟕:𝟓𝟔) – after an angel sitting on the stone leading to the tomb told them to tell the other disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead and where they could find him. They “𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐛, 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐨𝐲.” (𝐯.𝟖)        

         How would you feel if you were there? Shocked? Scared to death? Wondering who took the body? Would you be overcome with grief telling yourself this is too much for me to take? Or would you feel joyful that Jesus kept his promise and rose from the dead on the third day as he had promised?

         However way you may have felt had you been there, you will probably feel the same way – afraid yet filled with joy – especially if you’d happen to meet Jesus Christ in an alley today and he tells you: “𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.”        

         Joyful because meeting him would erase all doubts you may have been harboring relative to his resurrection. Did he really rise from the dead? How was it possible? Afraid because you also know that the eternal life Jesus is offering does not come free. This eternal life is conditional, and it is given only to those who will believe in Him and to believe in Him means to yield and subordinate our own will to His Will.

         But this is getting ahead of this Gospel passage for today that speaks of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ which was the fulfillment of his promise to rise again on the third day (𝐋𝐤 𝟏𝟖:𝟑𝟑) and this event is an undoubted fact.

         The Jews claim that his disciples have stolen his body (𝐯.𝟏𝟑) but this was not possible because the stone could not have been moved without waking up the guards. If the guards were sleeping, how could they have known that it was the disciples who stole the body of Jesus. The truth was the guards were even bribed to say his body was stolen (𝐯𝐯.𝟏𝟒-𝟏𝟓).

         Today more than 2,500 years later, the Resurrection of Jesus is still being debated but there is just no point discussing this matter any further as there are only two choices we can make – to either believe that Jesus indeed rose from the dead or ignore this truth.

         And Christians shouldn’t find it difficult to believe in the Resurrection because of the gift of faith that has been infused in us at the time of our Baptism. This faith that we have is the firm conviction, arrived at with the Grace of God, that moves us to believe all that Jesus Christ taught on earth is true as well as all that the Catholic Church teaches by the commission she has received from Him.

         While we do need faith to believe in the Resurrection, it will help us to believe if we will consider that there are at least four major pieces of evidence that would show that Jesus indeed rose from the dead.

          First and foremost was that Jesus had died (𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟗:𝟑𝟑). The second point was that Jesus was buried in a new tomb (𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟗:𝟒𝟏) but his body wasn’t there when Mary Magdalene, Peter and John went to tomb on the morning of the third day (𝐉𝐧 𝟐𝟎:𝟏-𝟗).

          The third point was that there were at least 12 instances when Jesus appeared or was seen by his disciples and the number of witnesses who attested to these appearances more than satisfies the Jewish tradition to have at least two or three witnesses when presenting a case (𝐃𝐞𝐮𝐭 𝟏𝟕:𝟔).

          The fourth and last point was that many people have encountered Jesus and were changed by Him and this turns the Resurrection into a personal experience rather than a theological discussion.

          Indeed, from that time on until today there have been countless number of people including many known atheists who have been converted and transformed from their unbelief to belief in God. What might or could have changed them? Well, they met the living Jesus.

          This is the same with us. Many of us were skeptics. We lived in a world that was devoid of His presence in the true sense of the word. We go through our obligations like attendance in Sunday masses, but we remained non-committal to further involvement in church activities.

          And many of us felt we have everything we need in life until such time we find that even the world can no longer satisfy the emptiness inside us. I was like many others who lived in my own world. During my time as a media practitioner, I would go to great lengths even stepping on other people’s toes just so I could have the story I want – not just to be the first to break the news but to become popular. I also wanted to get rich and maintainers of gambling dens went their way without fear of being raided by law enforcers because of my patronage.

          But God loves us so much that He will not allow us to wallow in misery and sin, and he will reveal Himself to us at the time when we need him most. When everything in our life seems to be going wrong that is when we will meet Him and he did reveal himself to me when I found myself on the pit of desperation when the throne I thought I had crumbled.

          And when we do meet him, there are at least three things required of us as with His disciples following his Resurrection. (1) 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅 (Ac 16: 31); (2) 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔 (𝑴𝒌 16:15). 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅; (3) 𝑹𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 (𝑷𝒉𝒊 4:4). 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 (𝑱𝒏 10:10) 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.

         While there are some even today who claim that the resurrection of Jesus was a great hoax, such claims are not only ludicrous but totally devoid of reason. Why? Because the Resurrection of Jesus was not only the greatest event in history, but its authenticity was witnessed not just by two or three but countless witnesses who gave empirical testimonies attesting to its truthfulness.

         The question now is what would you do with what has been revealed to you? Like the Apostles and his other disciples, will you testify that Jesus is risen? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 6, 2026)