Readings for April 19-20, The Resurrection of the Lord
By Fr. Jack Treloar | For On Mission
Today we begin our celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. Today, and during the octave that follows, the Church invites us to experience the Resurrection in the same manner that the first followers of Jesus came to realize the fact of the Resurrection as something more than anything they had ever imagined.
Following Jesus’ death on the cross, they had buried him in the tomb, spent all of the Sabbath mourning his loss, and on Sunday morning went to the tomb to complete the burial rites. They were stunned to find the tomb empty. Who had moved the body and where did they take it?
This was another loss on top of all the tragedy they had already experienced. Try to experience with them the loss of the body, the confusion — the sorrow only seems to deepen.
Our Gospel story this week begins just after the chief disciples Peter and John learn of the missing body and the open tomb. They ran to the tomb and found everything just as they had been told. No body, open tomb, missing guards. When Peter and John enter, they find the burial cloths and the napkin for Jesus’ face folded up and set apart.
Despite the strange scene, the disciples begin to get a first idea that this was not just another grave robbery. That napkin was very strange. They remember that Jesus had told all of them that he would rise from the dead, and Peter and John now know Jesus was foretelling the truth when he had spoken to them.
The Gospel tells us they came to believe. Even though Jesus does not appear in this Gospel passage for Easter Sunday, we are invited to experience the first awareness of his Resurrection just as Peter and John did on the first Easter morning.
If we follow the readings for the octave of Easter, this whole week, we will notice that each day Jesus shows his followers more and more about his risen life.
He will meet Mary Magdalene and console her deep sense of loss. He will discuss his Passion and death with two disciples, consoling them and breaking the bread with them. He will meet the cohort of apostles and eat fish in front of them to prove that his body is real and that he is not just a ghost.
Finally, he will show them his wounded hands, feet and side to demonstrate he is indeed the one they loved.
I invite you to participate in all the wondrous Resurrection appearances this week. If you do so, the surprises of the Resurrection will deepen in your own heart.
It is now up to us as modern-day disciples to continue the work originated by the first disciples.
After Pentecost, they spread the Gospel message to the then known world. This was their response to his command:
“Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.” Or “feed the hungry.” “Take care of widows and orphans or anyone in need.” “Give shelter to the stranger.
Fr. Treloar is an assistant director at Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh and has served as a professor, lecturer, author and academic administrator.
The readings for Saturday, April 19, can be found at Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter | USCCB
The readings for Sunday, April 20, can be found at The Resurrection of the Lord | USCCB.