Easter Sunday
Readings: The Resurrection of the Lord | USCCB Today’s Gospel reading has always captivated me because it is so detailed and realistic – making the point more than once, for example, that John ran faster to the tomb than Peter did. The passage even inspired a bit of envy when I was younger. If only I could have lived while Jesus walked among us, and I could have run alongside the disciples that morning to bear witness to the empty tomb with my own eyes. Perhaps then faith would come more easily, and doubt would be kept at bay by what I had seen directly and could never forget. My envy was misplaced, of course. The vast majority of those who encountered Jesus during his life did not drop everything and follow him. Great crowds were not rushing to check the tomb that morning. Most who saw Jesus with their own eyes had turned away and moved on with their lives. And from the vantage point of today, my faith is strengthened by all that followed from that empty tomb: a ragtag, fear-filled band of disciples transformed into a world-changing movement of missionaries and martyrs. The impact of the empty […]