This is the way we often begin stories. They can be engaging and fascinating stories. Sometimes they are fables and fairy tales that, although fictional, teach us some important lesson about life.
At Easter we celebrate the greatest event to take place in the history of the world, the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is surely a story of once upon a time, long ago and far away. And too often that is where we leave it, relegating it to the past, to the annals of history. It is a monumental story from which we can draw many lessons for the present, but we often approach this wonderful event only as a past event, worth remembering and celebrating every year. The fact is, however, that since Jesus has risen from the dead, he is no longer dead; he is alive; and he is active in our lives — if we let him out of the confines of long ago and far away. He is as near to us as he was to Mary Magdalene, who embraced him outside his tomb; as he was to Thomas, whom he invited to touch his wound marks; as he was to Peter, whom he told to feed his lambs. Jesus is forever alive and forever with us, if we but open our eyes to see and celebrate his presence.
When we read the Bible, we can read it as a story of long ago and far away, trying to understand ancient concepts of another culture as we learn of God’s relationship with the human race. But if we read it knowing that Jesus is alive with us in the present, we would experience it the same way the disciples on the road to Emmaus experienced it. He is speaking to us here and now, opening the Scriptures to us, and setting our hearts on fire today. Like the disciples on the road, we may not recognize him, but he is the Risen One, as present to us as he was to them. (Luke 24:13-35)
When we reach out to the poor and the needy, we are not just fulfilling Jesus’ teaching of long ago and far away, we are feeding, clothing, housing, visiting and liberating Jesus, since when we do these things to the least of our sisters and brothers, we do them to him. (Matthew 25:31 ff)
When we go to Mass, we are not simply repeating an ancient ritual in remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus in the past, we encounter Jesus physically today in the breaking of bread. He ascended into heaven, but he is the living bread come down from heaven.
When we gather as a Christian community, we do not simply share a common heritage; we share a common identity as the Body of Christ, each one of us a member united to our living Head. We no longer ask “What would Jesus do (if he were still here)?”, but we do his work now, making his risen Body present to bring to the world the good news that repentance is the way to freedom and eternal life.
It is because Jesus is risen from the dead that we no longer think of him in “once upon a time” terms, but in the here and now. We are strengthened in what we may have to suffer for his Name, because we know with all our hearts that in the end there will be the glorious victory of life-over-death in Jesus. How can we not be filled with joy as we sing our “Alleluia!”?
