THE Lord is good: in His mercy His servant shall not die but live and proclaim the wonderful works of the Lord (Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23). The women who came to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body found instead a young man in white announcing that Jesus has been raised, and they were told to tell the others (Mark 16:1-7).
I shall not die but live
THE responsorial psalm for the Easter Vigil is a song praising God’s power and victory. The worshipping community is being led to cry out in jubilation and thanksgiving because the Lord is good and merciful. Divine mercy (hesed) indicates God’s steadfast love for His covenant partner Israel. That is why the whole house of Israel is directly called upon to respond and repeat the refrain: “His mercy endures forever.” God’s chosen people have experienced divine mercy and have witnessed the power and the victory wrought by God’s hand.
The psalmist himself (the prayer-leader or the servant-king) has personal experience of divine power and victory. Amid the perils and threats that assailed him, he knew and found out: “I shall not die, but live.” A final, powerful image captures the reversal of fortunes the person loved by God actually undergoes: rejected and persecuted by others, he is eventually vindicated and even exalted like the stone the builders rejected only to become the cornerstone holding everything together. Preserved from death, he now commits himself to proclaim and recount to all God’s marvelous deeds, for it is by the Lord that this wonder has been done.
He is not here
MARY Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome were among the women who looked on from a distance at the death of Jesus on the cross (Mark 14:40). They had ministered to Him in Galilee and had followed Him to Jerusalem. The first two woman-followers watched, in particular, where the body of Jesus was laid by Joseph of Arimathea (14:47). And now, the day after the Sabbath, Jesus having died and was buried the day before the Sabbath, the three women very early that first day of the week went to the tomb of Jesus bringing spices in order to anoint Him. They came to anoint His dead body; clearly, they had as yet no faith in His resurrection. Their anointing was intended to merely soften the stench of decomposition.
The women knew Jesus was dead, and they expected his body would be undisturbed. The only problem they anticipated was how to move the stone that has been rolled against the entrance to the tomb. They thought the tomb would be sealed and, therefore, would not be a walk-in for them. To their surprise, they found the stone at the entrance of the tomb already rolled back, and they just walked in. Their surprise turned to amazement when they entered the tomb and found no dead Jesus. Before them, instead, was a young man robed in white, presumably an angel, who responded to their amazement as they were overwhelmed by this supernatural experience: Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified, whom they seek, is not here. “He has been raised.”
Go and tell His disciples
THE words of the heavenly figure are both proclamation and commission: Jesus who was crucified has been raised by God from the dead, and the three women who first learned of this tremendous turn of events must tell the same to Jesus’ other followers. The young man dressed in white first confirms that it was, indeed, Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified and who died, who was buried in that tomb. This Jesus is no longer there because God has raised Him from the dead. (The aorist
passive verb form “He has been raised” means divine action and power in the New Testament Greek.)
The women themselves could see that the place does not have the body of Jesus anymore. They who came to attend to the dead have become the first witnesses to God’s power over death. And they were tasked to be the first heralds of the resurrection. They were to tell the others, especially Peter, to go to Galilee and there they would all see Jesus himself. “As he told you, he is going before you to Galilee”—the reference is to the promise of Jesus made during the last supper (Mark 14:28) that though, like sheep dispersed when the shepherd was struck, the disciples waivered in their faith and abandoned Him, after His resurrection He would gather them again in Galilee where He first called them (Mark 1:14-20).
Alálaong bagá, death is not the last word in the story of Jesus. It is the power of God revealed in His resurrection from the dead. The event of His passion, death and burial may be bewildering, but the mercy of God is clearly manifest and endures forever. The Son of God through His death and resurrection carried out God’s plan for our salvation. His victory over death, which is the victory over sin of all who follow Him, is God’s marvelous deed.
Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.