By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
v1After the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. v2Suddenly there was a violent earthquake; an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it. v3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. v4The guards were so afraid that they trembled and became like dead men.
v5The angel spoke to the women. “You must not be afraid,” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. v6He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said. Come here and see the place where he was lying. v7Go quickly now, and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from death, and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him!’ Remember what I have told you.”
v8So they left the tomb in a hurry, afraid and yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
v9Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Peace be with you.” They came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. v10″Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to them. “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” – Matthew 28:1-10
Pandemic disaster. We are living in an extreme disastrous condition. Our daily rote is now in a “new normal” order. The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has been enforced for a month and recently extended until end of this month. This government-imposed measure to prevent the spread of the virus has brought unprecedented condition to all – regardless of social status, age and gender. We are all caught unprepared of the impact of COVID19. The lockdowns in the communities as part of the ECQ protocol brought unparalleled burden to all but more so to the underprivileged. The church is also in the same boat. While the true essence of church are the people, the faith expression is seen and felt more on church liturgical traditions and the sacraments. The ECQ protocols prohibits the church to normally practice these liturgical and sacramental services. But thanks be to the human intelligence and invention of the internet. The church continues to sustain and nurture the faithful through the internet via Facebook and websites. Thus the new normal in church services are ‘video streaming’, Facebook live streaming and Zoom.
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The ECQ and its lockdown protocol is the context of the observance of Holy Week. According to some old folks this is the second time in their memory that the traditional observance of the Holy Week liturgical services are suspended or not done inside the churches. The first was during the World War II. Amidst the difficulties we now endure, the essence of the Holy Week is underscored: suffering, sacrifice, and penitence. The passion of Christ was recalled in the gospel read on Palm Sunday also known as Sunday of the Passion. The last days and hours of Jesus Christ on earth are recalled in the church services of Holy Week particularly on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and finally, Easter Day – yet these are not translated in congregational services this year due to the pestilence.
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The hope of the resurrection is the core of the Christian faith. This is the ultimate message that Christ brought to all creation. There is life even after death if we believe in Him. But as he experienced during those last days of that first Holy Week, there is no Easter Day without going through Good Friday. There is no resurrection without crucifixion and the grave. In the context of the COVID19 pandemic this is an opportunity for us to meditate more profoundly on Jesus Christ’s suffering, sacrifice and victory. Since Holy Week and its traditions are observed every year, more often than not, the sacrifice and victory of Christ are not absorbed and observed solemnly by most Christians during and after the holy season of Lent concluded at the Holy Week. The solemnity and splendour of the liturgy in observance of this most holy season in the church calendar have to be suspended and mostly done via multi-media as we wrestle with the impact of the virus infection.
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While we anticipate the glorious celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, such joy is tamed by the fear and danger lurking around us. ‘You are not prepared to live unless you are prepared to die’, wrote one theologian. Much of what goes on this world is a battle against death. The ongoing combat against the unseen enemy of COVID19 has brought us nearer to this reality. Death is going to come. It is an appointment, and only God knows the hour. That is why it is wonderful to be a faithful believer of Jesus Christ, to know Jesus as our Saviour, the risen Lord, and giver of life. We then have the confidence and do not have to worry about death – COVID19 or whatever the cause may be. Jesus’ seventh word or statement from the cross tells us about death and how He died: ‘Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last (Luke 23:46). One characteristic of Jesus’ death that should encourage us and take away any fear of death – is that he died victoriously.
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Jesus cried out, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!” Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the work that God gave him to do, and when he gave up his spirit, several miracles took place. The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, and God opened the way into the Holy of Holies. Some graves are opened, and some of the saints are resurrected. Jesus Christ proved himself to be victorious over sin (the torn veil) and over death (the opened graves). There was even earthquake that shook the area! The Lord Jesus Christ died victoriously, conqueror of sin, death and hell! The Lord Jesus Christ died for sinners. He died actually, he died confidently, he died willingly, and he died victoriously. He did not die for His sin because he has none. He died for the sins of the world. Someday we are going to die. Usually people die just the way they lived. To be sure, God can work and people can be saved at the last minute. But don’t take the chance. Don’t gamble with eternity.
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On that first Easter morning Jesus has risen. It was witnessed by several people and several wrote their account of this wonderful mystery. We read in John 20:31, “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” But that first Easter morning was not as joyous and glorious as it was celebrated through the years later. The first reaction of the men and women who came to the tomb was not joy – it was bewilderment and fear! When the disciples witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, their doubts and discomforts did not immediately vanished. On the contrary, the resurrection of Jesus presented a new host of problems for them. They have to cope up with what the new situation demands. They have to understand and absorb the implication of having a Lord that died and then rose again. What does resurrection mean?
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God has conquered the powers of sin and death through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who follow Jesus now have new message to proclaim. No longer do we speak of the separation of people that death could bring. Now we speak of unity, of concord, of life and peace. The meaning of resurrection is that all barriers that formerly separated people have been abolished. The Resurrection challenges us to replace distrust and fear of others with understanding and love. If this is absorbed and observed then the problem of the uncalled discrimination, fear and distrust given the frontliners fighting the COVID19 will be expunged. It would also mean that war, hatred or prejudice have no place under the lordship of the risen Christ Jesus.
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This year, Holy Week which started last Palm Sunday and culminates this Easter Sunday falls during the COVIC19 pandemic. It has brought to all unprecedented conditions of inconvenience and uncertainties of when these will end. The people in North America are naming the virus “The Beast”. It attacks ferociously with spiked fevers, aches, lung binding, and hallucinations. COVID-19 is a “breath-taking” virus. It steals the breath from people’s bodies in a particularly terrifying way. It strikes suddenly leaving us frightened and breathless. With no cure in sight, the only thing we can do is hide away, covering our noses and faces with cloth, hoping to keep the aggressive beast away from our lungs. COVID-19 is a death threat that has already made good on many lives.
This brutal virus makes us feel that we are locked up in a dark tomb for an impossibly long duration, as though the darkness of “Good Friday” might go on forever with little hope in sight.
And yet, hope of the resurrection blooms eternal. But for now, we wait. We only need to have faith and trust in God’s love and mercy.
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I wonder what it must have felt like for Jesus those “three days” in the tomb, knowing resurrection was imminent, yet waiting for dawn to come on that magnificent morning when the stone was rolled away, and the sun streamed through, when an “angel of the Lord” removed the funerary cloth from Jesus’ face, and the Holy Spirit breathed again the holy breath of life into His stricken body and made it rise like Ezekiel’s bones from the valley of the shadow of death. Three days of darkness. Then, new and restored life. Not the same life. But a restored, resurrected life.
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Our fight and struggle against the COVIC19 pandemic have caused a more serious infection. The infection of the mind and spirit. Such contamination results to the erosion of hope and faith further rendering us to act less human and is causing destructive interpersonal and social relations. Yet as people of the resurrection the glorious victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death and other human frailties should eclipse these inhuman and negative vibes.
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This Sunday as we celebrate Easter day, resurrection means so much more to us than it did before. As an online preacher puts it, “For we have been living in darkness, confined to a kind of tomblike existence. Life as we have known it has stopped. We don’t go out to work. We don’t go out to play. We hide our faces; we guard our lungs. We walk zombie-like through our homes and streets, frightened, and covered in our own kind of “funerary” cloths, so that the cold breath of death might pass us by, that invisible breath-stealing beast that threatens us and keeps us locked away, for a time” (esermons).
But only for a time.
Life in waiting is merely that, a time of waiting. And yet a time of expectation. For we know that no matter what, that beast has no power over us. God’s resurrection breath will raise us up. A new day will dawn, soon. Very soon….
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Churches will be silent this Sunday to an otherwise glorious celebration of Christ’s resurrection through joyous and lively music and elaborate liturgy. Despite of a subdued celebration of Easter, the spirit of the risen Lord must now make us remember that God is always with us and moving us to be messengers of indomitable hope amidst this time of dread and uncertainties.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, who through your onlybegotten Son
Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your lifegiving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen**
