Walking with Jesus: Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord C

For Sunday, April 20, 2025

Acts 10:34, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9


It's Easter Sunday, the day we've been waiting for. At some point in our lives we've wondered: Does God exist? Did God create me? Is there any reason why I exist? Then we've asked: What does God mean to me and how important am I to God? From the earliest of times, different cultures and religions have struggled to come up with answers to these questions. Centuries ago Moses encountered God at a burning bush — which led to the freeing of God's people, the Israelites, out of slavery in Egypt and guiding them to the promised land. It took 40 years of wandering and learning about God. They continually rejected God, His invitation and His commands as to why they were chosen. The prayerful, mystic and prophetic Moses recorded the covenant, God's promise to us and the commandments — which is our response to God. The desert wanderers were too stuck on themselves and wanted what they wanted and did not listen to God. They disobeyed, they sinned, they rejected God; as a result, they did not make it to the promised land. The new generation of Israelites did. Moses wrote all of this down in the first five books of the Old Testament. These books led to God's promise of sending help: a redeemer, the promised one, the Messiah. Jesus came and took our flesh and our image and announced that God loves us every moment. To prove this He taught and He healed. He loved and He was crucified, and He died for you and me. This is what God's love is all about. God the Father raised Jesus from the dead as a promise to each of us of our own resurrection: heaven forever.

We make the direction shift: We are blessed to have life. All life is a gift from God. He created each person individually to be a part of His plan for creation. He wants us here and needs us to live a life of love. We get in touch with God's love and how He sends people throughout our lives to care for us and show us love, which really is a sign of God loving us. This is also a special way of realizing what God is like. Many people come into contact with us and we allow them to come closer. They touch us with phrases like “I know how you feel when we're going through difficult times” or “I've been through that before … we are not lost.” It is so special to realize that people care, and that helps us to care ourselves. We think that we find out about God from what is above and through teachings and religion, but we really find a lot about God from below — from the people who are in our lives. What we know and what we experience each day can be a life experience, a special sign that God gives liberty to human life. Let’s find out more about Him and His Jesus — the crucified Jesus, the amazing side of Easter that tells us about God and our human hope.

We find out about God's love in John’s first letter: “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent His only son into the world so that we might have life through Him.” [1 John 4:8-9] He sent Jesus because there was no clearer way; no more realistic, human, loving way to prove His total, absolute and forgiving love. Think on this — reflect on it this Easter Sunday. BY NOT SPARING HIS ONLY SON, GOD SHOWS US THAT THERE’S NO RESTRAINT ON HIS LOVE. He’s telling you and me: “I love you that much.” He loves us in our suffering and in our sinful world. He shows us absolute compassion, and His love is a bond of love that’s never broken in this life. Thinking in this way, am I grateful and do I show gratitude to God?

How am I to live? Jesus gave us not just a model but the only way to live to attain heaven. A primer was written many years ago in a little book called The Imitation of Christ about living and loving as Jesus taught — which is really our goal on living. Look how we feel when someone is hurting and we touch them. Look how we feel when we go out of our way to pick someone up ... when people say you're so special. Look at the people who came to Jesus hurting physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. Look at His miracles. I believe there was something special in each of His miracles: Jesus touched the individual. Human touches are so special and I believe He looked right into their eyes. He cares that much about you. He cares that much about me.

So what can we do this Easter? What can I do? Let us concentrate on the two meanings of Easter: first, that there can be no more forceful way for God to prove His love for us than in offering His son for our salvation; and second, Jesus’ life and death offer us a concrete, human example of how we should live our human lives — in kindness, love, sacrifice and forgiveness. Then our human touches and love are the best signs and affirmation of our faith and life in Christ. This leads to the Promised Land for each of us — the promise of heaven forever IF we believe, have faith, and live the commandments and the love commandments. Have a beautiful Easter. God bless.

So I reflect on:

• Consider making a list: “I thank you for ______. I see your goodness in this way: ______. It shows your love for me and a need for me to be love right here, right now: ______.”
• Do I hear God talking to me today? Can I hear His gratitude for loving someone left out, hurting, in need of a smile or a pat on the back? Sit, be still, listen: Let God love you!

Sacred Space 2025 states:

“‘Enough! The Resurrection. A heart’s clarion! Away grief’s gasping, joyless days, dejection. Across my foundering deck shone a beacon, an eternal beam.’ So wrote Gerald Manley Hopkins SJ about the comfort of the Resurrection. The darkness of sin and death is forever shattered by the ‘eternal beam’ of Easter morning. We open our hearts to the joy of Christ’s victory, and we give immense thanks to God.

“Jesus had foretold His rising from the dead and now everything has changed. He is vindicated in His triumph over those who opposed Him. We all share in the victory of Jesus, our Brother, and all the graces that we could ever need have been won for us. Like the apostles who ran to the tomb, let us allow the enormity of this event to seep into our souls as we now meet our Savior in prayer.”