Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

«THEY TOOK THE LORD FROM THE TOMB AND WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY PLACED HIM»

Every Christian hope is founded on the Resurrection of Christ, on which our resurrection with him is "anchored". However, Since we now we have risen with him: the whole fabric of our Christian life is woven with this unshakable certainty and this hidden reality, with the joy and dynamism that derive from it.

Author
Hermit Monk

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The evangelical passage for Easter day does not present an ad, similar to a proclamation, of the resurrection of Jesus. This is the most surprising aspect of it, certainly diluted by the other liturgical readings and prayers that distinguish this solemnity.

The secret and reason for this absence lies in the quality of John's text which by not making it explicit reveals and in its movement, while describing what was true and physical of the disciple Magdalene together with Peter and another, it also drags readers along, almost as if they too were taking part in that race to the tomb, involved in what to all intents and purposes is the genesis of the Easter faith. Let's read the text.

«The first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb in the morning, when it was still dark, and he saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. He then ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, what Jesus loved, and told them: “They took the Lord away from the tomb and we don't know where they placed him”. Peter then went out together with the other disciple and they went to the tomb. They both ran together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down, he saw the sheets laid there, but he did not enter. Meanwhile, Simon Pietro also arrived, who followed him, and he entered the tomb and observed the cloths laid there, and the shroud - which had been on his head - not placed there with the cloths, but wrapped in a place apart. Then the other disciple also entered, who had reached the tomb first, and he saw and believed. In fact they had not yet understood the Scripture, that is, he had to rise from the dead" (GV 20,1-9).

On that first day of the week which will later become a holiday for Christians, «day of the sun» (Saint Justin) and of the Lord, the event of the Resurrection of Christ is a fact that is revealed in the guise of testimony. In John's story we grasp the inchoative moment, the release of the spark that will set the world on fire. but yet, what Mary Magdalene first communicates is an observation far from faith in the Resurrection of the Lord, whom he will meet shortly thereafter, as soon as she is left alone. She reports the most obvious thing: "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we know not where they have laid!». In that plural we see the initial bewilderment of the disciples, underlined by an annotation, symbol of a faith that is not yet profound and convinced: "it was still dark". In the Fourth Gospel the darkness refers to the darkness that opposes the light of the Word that arrives (GV 1,5; 3,19); designates the problematic situation of the disciples in the absence of Jesus (GV 6,19), and it is the condition of uncertainty and confusion in which those who do not follow Jesus find themselves wandering (GV 8,12). Above all it is the condition of those who do not believe in him: «I came into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (GV 12,46). Maria is in that situation there, he peered into the empty tomb, but he has not yet understood because he has not seen with the eyes of faith and so he involves two important witnesses: Peter and another anonymous disciple. Only later will Mary of Magdala say with conviction: «I saw the Lord!». In this way the internal itinerary that will lead to the ecclesial announcement: «He is risen», passes through the evidence of death, consisting of the bandages and shroud that wrapped the body and the empty tomb in which it had been placed. According to the author of the Fourth Gospel, to arrive at a clear and certain profession of faith on the part of the believer - like that of St. Thomas: "My Lord and my God" - it must mature little by little in the consciousness of the disciples and he outlines its onset through the various degrees of seeing. It is worth highlighting how in the chapter 20 of San Giovanni the verb to see occurs well 13 times. Everywhere in the Gospel, but above all in this chapter the development of "seeing" is outlined, and it is Jesus himself who teaches his followers to look: it is his pedagogical method. Initially there is a sensitive seeing which subsequently leads to contemplation, so that the mystery is touched in the depth of the visible (cf.. GV 19,35: «He who has seen bears witness... so that you too may believe»).

At the Last Supper Jesus had stated: "Whoever has seen me has seen the father" (GV 14,9) and this is the central verse of the fourth Gospel. But physically seeing Jesus is not enough because, obviously, even his enemies see him, but consider him simply a man from Nazareth, indeed an impostor. Physically seeing and hearing Jesus, a man with a face, a flesh, it was indispensable to progressively come to contemplate in him, with the eye of faith, the Son of God, that is, to discover in him the Word made flesh. It is Jesus, with words and signs, with all his presence, which opens the door to the mystery and leads from "seeing" a man of flesh to recognition, in that flesh, the Word of God; so physical "seeing"., throughout the Gospel, it is the access route to this mystery that is revealed. The pedagogy of seeing becomes explicit, in fact, Jesus himself will explain it to Thomas, in our chapter 20. The starting point that becomes a pace, it is what we see with these fleshly eyes of ours; we start with the signs, like the empty tomb or the gardener, a real man whom Mary Magdalene encounters, in which he then recognizes the Risen Jesus. It's a progression, found in John's use of the verb to see. We go from Greek Bleppo with the meaning of seeing, notice something, like the cloths in the tomb, a theorein when the apostles and Magdalene look and observe more carefully. Finally the verb horan, to the perfect Greek, used by Saint John to express the fullness of Easter faith: «I saw the Lord» (heôraka ton Kyrion). Although we can't say much more here, what catches the eye, noting the concentric structure of the entire chapter 20 is that it describes the birth of faith in the risen Christ which however is based on the testimony of those who "saw" the empty tomb and the living Lord. This aspect is so important that the Risen Jesus will rebuke Thomas for his lack of trust in the testimony of the other disciples: «Because you saw me, you believed; Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed!» (GV 20,29).

The Resurrection of Christ is therefore done, but also an event inextricably linked to faith and testimony. So the Lord, once again and especially on this occasion of the Resurrection from the dead, he does not deviate from his pedagogy and from the way in which he wanted to meet and save men, that is, by incarnating himself.

The Gospel describes the dynamics of Easter faith very well and how the testimony on it is consolidated. Of the other disciple, who ran with Peter to the tomb, arriving first, it is said that "he began to believe" (in Greek: the epistemic, ingressive aorist) and he will say to Thomas the Risen One: «And don't be incredulous, but become a believer!» (GV 20,27). This aspect of progress and becoming is often not well underlined, since even the translations are sometimes not always happy, yet it makes us understand that the Christian faith is not something static and acquired, but a virtue that grows with experience, the intelligence of the Scriptures and the encounter with the testimony that becomes the living tradition of the Christian community. Initially it is dark: «In fact they had not yet understood the Scripture, that is, he had to rise from the dead. The disciples, therefore, they went home again.". But slowly, also thanks to the presence of the Risen One, faith becomes increasingly sure and clear until: «My Lord and my God!» by Thomas, which are the last words of the disciples in the Johannine Gospel in its first draft (GV 20,28). How important it is today for our communities to rediscover this link between events, faith and testimony, judge it for yourself. Many still follow the latest private revelation, yet another alleged Marian message, when in fact it's all there, in the Gospel. Even today Christ is risen, respecting as then our humanity that He himself assumed, asks for our testimony and our sincere faith in Him risen from the dead so that the world, our concrete situations and personal and collective stories are reborn.

I would like to conclude by reporting the words that Paul VI addressed the participants in the Symposium on the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ in the distant past 1970:

"Yup, every Christian hope is founded on the Resurrection of Christ, on which it is “anchored” our resurrection with Him. However, Since we now we have risen with him (cf.. With the 3,1): the whole fabric of our Christian life is woven with this unshakable certainty and this hidden reality, with the joy and dynamism that derive from it. It is therefore not surprising that such a mystery, so fundamental to our faith, so prodigious for our intelligence, has always aroused, with the passionate interest of the exegetes, a multifaceted contestation throughout history. This phenomenon was already evident when the evangelist Saint John was still alive, who deemed it necessary to point out that the unbelieving Thomas had been invited to touch with his hands the mark of the nails and the wounded side of the risen Word of life (cf.. GV 20, 24-29). How not to mention, since, the attempts at a gnosis, always reborn in multiple forms, to penetrate this mystery with all the resources of the human spirit, and also to strive to reduce it to the dimensions of entirely human categories? A temptation that is certainly understandable and undoubtedly inevitable, but which has a formidable tendency to insensibly empty all the riches and scope of what is first of all a fact: the Resurrection of the Savior. Even today - and we certainly don't need to remind you of this - we see this trend manifesting its extreme dramatic consequences, going so far as to deny it, among the faithful who call themselves Christians, the historical value of inspired testimonies or, more recently, to interpret in a purely mythical way, spiritual or moral, the physical resurrection of Jesus. How could we not deeply feel the disintegrating effect of these harmful discussions on many faithful? But We proclaim with strength: we consider all this without fear, Why, today as yesterday, the testimony "of the Eleven and their companions" is capable, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, to arouse true faith: “It's really true! The Lord was resurrected and appeared to Peter” (LC 24,34-35) (full text: WHO, my translation).

From the Hermitage, 20 April 2025

Easter of resurrection

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

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