Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord
First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 10:34,37-43
Peter
proceeded to speak and said: "You know what has happened all over
Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went
about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God
was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of
the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a
tree. This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be
visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God
in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He
commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one
appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the
prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive
forgiveness of sins through his name."
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4
Brothers and sisters, if you have been raised with Christ,
seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that
are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in
God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be
revealed with him in glory.
Gospel Reading: John 20:1-9
On
the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene
came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom
Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the
tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the
other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running
together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb
first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there,
but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went
into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth
that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but
rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the
tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did
not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus
'Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed' (John 20:8). Stone was removed from the entrance of the tomb. Body of Jesus was not there. Burial cloths were lying there. The cloth that had covered the head was not with the burial cloths but was separately rolled up in another place. These are the things that they saw.
Immediate reaction of Mary of Magdala was that they had stole the body from the tomb. She only saw the stone rolled and the tomb empty. But the other disciples saw the cloths. This gave them the belief in the resurrection. If anyone had stolen the body then he would have taken the body with the cloths. But the person has disappeared leaving the cloths could only mean to the disciples that he is risen that is why the author says ‘he saw and believed’.
Immediate reaction of Mary of Magdala was that they had stole the body from the tomb. She only saw the stone rolled and the tomb empty. But the other disciples saw the cloths. This gave them the belief in the resurrection. If anyone had stolen the body then he would have taken the body with the cloths. But the person has disappeared leaving the cloths could only mean to the disciples that he is risen that is why the author says ‘he saw and believed’.
