When the Sabbath was past, at the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went with the other Mary to examine the tomb. 

Happy Easter!

The Gospel text begins with a time reference: “At the dawn of the first day of the week.”Today we know what day it was: April 9, 30. The day that Christians called “the eighth day.”The ancient baptisteries were octagonal. This number became sacred to Christians because it indicated Easter. They were octagonal because those baptized became aware that they had entered a day that would never end; their life was no longer destined for a tomb but for a life that does not die.

On this Easter morning, two women move while it is still dark; they are Mary of Magdala, whom we know very well, and then another Mary, who is probably the one mentioned by the Evangelist Matthew at the time of the burial of Jesus. She was the mother of James and Joseph; the evangelist Matthew narrates that when Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Jesus in a white sheet and laid it in the tomb, he rolled away the stone and departed. The evangelist says that many women were watching from afar, and among them were Mary of Magdala and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the Zebedee, James, and John.

On Easter morning, this woman no longer appears. We can ask ourselves about her and formulate a hypothesis: Who was this mother of the sons of Zebedee? Matthew refers to this woman a little earlier when narrating the scene in which she presents herself to the Master to ask him that, when he enters into glory – when he takes power – her two sons, who dreamed of glory, be at his right and left. This woman, on that Friday, must have seen all her dreams crumble… That is why it is understandable that, on Easter morning, she no longer moves and discreetly leaves the scene when she sees that the story of the Master of Nazareth ends tragically.

What are these two Marys going to do at the tomb? It is their affection for the Master that compels them to visit the burial place. It was customary to go to see the grave for three days. But the verb used here in Greek is θεωρῆσαι (zeoresai), from the verb zeoreo, which means “to go to contemplate, to reflect.” It is not a mere glance that they are going to give. They are going to rethink what has happened. They are resigned but need to rework the mourning and, therefore, talk to unburden themselves. They will cry and reflect on the death of the Just One.

The power, the force of money, has won; there is nothing left but to resign oneself to the power of evil and lies, perhaps to come to one’s senses and accept that these hostile forces will always have the better part. The Righteous One has been defeated; the Liberator has been reduced to silence, locked forever in a tomb. They must have thought that this is the history of the world; it has always been and always will be so. The new world in which we had placed our hopes has failed.

Those who have not yet received the light of Easter can only go to the grave to zeorein, that is, to contemplate the victory of death, the triumph of the meaninglessness of life. And if it is to end up in a tomb, one wonders if it is worth being born. The two Marys represent all those who have not yet received the light of Easter; they move like this. They willcontemplate the destiny of the man who ends up in a tomb.

Let us listen to what happens when these two women arrive at the tomb:

Suddenly there was a great earthquake: an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled back the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his robe white as snow.

Matthew narrates the visit of the women to the tomb in a different way than the other evangelists. The other evangelists say that, when they arrived, the stone had already been removed from the mouth of the tomb. On the other hand, Matthew says that the women witnessed a marvelous spectacle. This is not a journalistic account of an event; no. Matthew wants to present what happened in Passover. Matthew wants to explain what happened at Easter, the most significant intervention of God in history when death was definitively defeated. And to present this truth, he has a language and images that all his readers understand because they are biblical images.

The first of these images is: “Suddenly, there was a strong tremor.” That earthquake to which it alludes is the extraordinary explosion of the forces of nature. The Bible also uses it(there is no stronger image) to indicate God’s intervention. For example, the book of Exodus says that the mountain shook wildly when God descended on Mount Sinai to speak to Moses. When God comes, the earth is shaken. A tremendous earthquake in the universe’s historyoccurs in the depths of the earth.

In the abysses of the earth entered all those who abandoned this world to enter sheol. When the patriarchs, David, the prophets, and the Baptist himself entered sheol, nothing happened; everything continued as before; all remained, as before, prisoners of death. On the other hand, when Jesus enters sheol, an earthquake occurs because a life that does not die enters it.

Note well that when Jesus enters sheol, he does not free all the prisoners of death and bring them back to this world. Notice in the icon the living Jesus in this world, the one who preaches and then enters sheol. But Jesus does not return here as Lazarus but enters the world of God and, in doing so, opens its doors wide, taking with him all those who were born and died before him. From then on, these gates to God’s world remain open forever. He is the firstborn of these risen ones. And, when we say ‘Risen, ‘ we do not mean that “has returned to this life” but that he has entered the Father’s house.

Like the intense contractions of a laboring woman about to give birth to a life that never ends, this earthquake shakes the whole earth because the heavenly Father gives us His divine life.

The second image is: “The Angel of the Lord.” This expression often appears in the Bible, but it does not represent an angel like the ones we imagine; no. This expression indicates the Lord Himself and what He did on the day of His Passover. This expression means the Lord himself and what he did on the day of his Passover. For example, when the Lord speaks to Moses from the bush and the sacred author says: “the Angel of the Lord spoke to Moses,” he wants to tell us that the Lord himself spoke to him.

And what does the Lord do? He comes down from heaven, takes away the stone,removes the stone, and opens the tomb… We would expect to see Jesus coming out of the tomb at that moment. This has been imagined by our Western painters who, in their paintings, have presented a strong Jesus coming out of his deathbed with the cross in his hand and returning to earthly life. But no evangelist recounts the departure of Jesus from the tomb. Only an apocryphal gospel of the second century, the Gospel of Peter, recounts this scene of Jesus coming out of the tomb. The gospels could not tell it because Jesus did not return to this life when the stone was rolled away.

Jesus was resurrected at the very moment he breathed his last breath. That was when he entered the world of sheol and liberated everyone by introducing them to the Father’s house. Men had placed a stone in front of the tomb; it was the definitive sign of victory over death. We also say: “covered with a stone.” They thought they had closed forever in the tomb, the one who wanted to begin a new world. Instead, the Angel sits victoriously on the stone, thevictor over death.

The stone had been sealed, and guards had been placed to keep the tomb closed. God also broke those seals. Breaking the seals meant defying the Caesar of Rome. The Angel does so in defiance of the power of this world, the rulers, and the oppressors who wanted to keep Jesus imprisoned forever in death. But the ancient world, the world of death, has been conquered, and all signs of death disappear because God has given humanity the same life that Jesus of Nazareth had and has.

Then the appearance of this Angel is described: “His appearance was like the appearance of lightning and his clothing white as snow.” These are two other biblical images. Lightning is a divine attribute, the maximum of light and power. And the color white indicates the fullness of light that illuminates the tomb’s darkness. We think of death as a passage from the light to the darkness of the tomb. But with the Resurrection of Jesus, one leaves the darkness of this world and enters into the full light because sheol has been illuminated by the Passover.

Now enter the scene those who are on the side of death, those who would like the tomb’s stone not to be removed. They are the guards placed by the powers of this world, the political and religious authorities.

Let’s hear it:

The guard stood trembling with fear and were as good as dead. The Angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, the crucified one. He is not here; he has risen as he said. Go and see the place where he lay. Then run and tell the disciples that he is risen and that he is going ahead to Galilee; there you will see him. This is my message.

Whom do these guards of the tomb represent? They represent all those who, out of interest, out of servility or ignorance, take sides in the service of the old world, who want to perpetuate the ancient world, which is the world of the rulers; they represent those who defend the world of death. These guardians are prey to the trembling of the earthquake; theysee collapsing all that they had believed in, all their dreams; now they fall and are left as if unconscious by the intervention of the Lord of history.

The Angel does not speak to them. They must realize that their life in the service of death is destined for failure. And they will fall back into what counts in this world, money; they do not change, and they do not let themselves be shaken by this earthquake. The Angel speaks to the women: “do not be afraid.” The guards must fear because they see all their projects fail.

Then the Angel interprets the empty tomb: “Look, he is not here; the tomb is empty” as all tombs are empty because in the tombs remain the remains, not the persons, since the divine power of Jesus of Nazareth inhabits them. The empty tomb is the sign. Only when it is recognized is one prepared for the encounter with the Risen One. His mortal body, as such, disappears, is transfigured, and therefore cannot be verified with our senses.

This encounter with the Risen One, first the women and then the disciples, is recounted by all the evangelists with the only language they have at their disposal, made of material images: seeing, touching, and embracing the Risen One. Luke even speaks of “eating” with the Risen One. The revelation that the women receive from heaven is that Christ is alive, just as he had said. Before that empty tomb, the women remember that Jesus had said that a life given does not end in the darkness of a tomb but in the light of God’s world. The memory of his word makes the women see the Risen One.

And Angel’s message continues: “He will go on ahead to Galilee; there you will see Him.” What was Galilee? It was a land where Jews and Gentiles lived together, mixed, in mestization. So, this Galilee represents the world in which we live, with people who seek God and people who are not interested in God. It is a diverse world, with people we love and people we may not like. This is what Galilee represents.

You will see the Risen One going to Galilee, where Jesus again leads his disciples as he leads us today. It is our Galilee. With this announcement of what we have seen with the eyes of faith, we will grasp the presence of Christ, who is alive.

We listen to what women do:

The women hurried away from the tomb, filled with fear and joy, and ran to tell the disciples the news. Jesus went out to meet them and said, “Rejoice!“ They came forward, embraced his feet, and prostrated themselves before him. Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; tell my brothers to go to Galilee, where they will see me.”

The women hurried to leave the tomb—there was no point in contemplating an emptytomb—and ran to announce to the disciples their experience. Although they had not recognized the Risen One, they were already prepared to meet him because they remembered what he had told them. And when they set out to announce to their brothers that Christ was alive, the Risen One came out to meet them and said, “Rejoice, do not be afraid.” After Christ has passed through sheol, humanity no longer must fear the darkness of a tomb because it has been illuminated.

What did the women do? They embraced his feet and worshiped him. We would have embraced Jesus. Instead, the women embraced his feet. What is the meaning of this gesture? The Easter narratives insist on hands and feet. Even the Risen Christ says: “look at my hands and my feet.” The hands symbolize what Jesus has done, and the feet of the road he has traveled. Remember that when he called his disciples, the Lord said to them: “Follow me, follow my steps.” Steps that, apparently, led to death… because Jesus always asked for the gift of life. Now the women have understood where those feet have gone: passing through the gift of life and then through death, they have arrived at the glory of God.

It is essential to understand where the path of Jesus leads, a way that does not stop at Calvary. Those feet have gone much further, and we must contemplate the destiny of those feet. The words of the Risen One are the same as those of the Angel: “Do not be afraid.”There is no longer any need to fear death after Christ has crossed that dark valley that frightens us.

It is beautiful what the Risen Christ says, repeating the words of the Angel: “Go and tell my brothers…”. Those who had abandoned, disowned, and betrayed him are still his ‘brothers.’ The Letter to the Hebrews will say that he is not ashamed to call us ‘brothers’ because he loves us just as we are. And to these brothers, he has given the Good News that we are called to announce to all men.

I wish you all a Happy Easter.