The Good News on this ‘early morning’ is delivered by an angel (Matthew 28:1; Luke 2:10): “He is not here, for he has risen.” (Matthew 28:6) The angel mentions this truth twice (Matthew 28:7), underlining its significance. Yet, this news was entirely unexpected, this despite Jesus predicting his death and resurrection three times. (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:17) When Jesus explained to them that it was necessary for him “to be put to death and to be raised on the third day,” his disciples struggled to accept it. (Matthew 16:21) Death they understood, even if they refused to accept that it might happen to him. (Matthew 16:22) But resurrection was a different matter entirely—one so foreign that little was said of it. When he first mentioned it to them in Mark’s Gospel, his disciples were left scratching their heads, questioning among themselves “what this rising from the dead could mean.” (Mark 9:10) Being raised from the dead is something quite outside the ordinary. Thus, it remains a mystery we each must wrestle with, for Christ’s Resurrection sits at the very heart of our faith.

Like many of us today, these women likely gave the news that he is risen, the same lip service Martha parroted following the death of her brother, Lazarus: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:24) For most, such words are comforting, feel-good words that carry little practical weight. So here, when told that he is risen, these women believe it—especially given the overwhelming and awe-inspiring manner of its revelation (Matthew 28:2-3)—yet they remain standing at the threshold of a mystery, not knowing what such a reality truly means.

The angel’s command to the women was urgent: “Run and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead!” St Matthew records that they ‘quickly departed from the tomb with great fear and joy, and ran to announce it to his disciples.’ (Matthew 28:7 8) Having heard the Word of the Lord, they immediately obeyed. (C.f.: Luke 1:34ff)

It was as they rushed to do as the angel instructed them—as Mary and Joseph had done before them (c.f.: Matthew 1:24; 2:14; Luke 1:39)—that they encountered the Risen Lord. Having put their trust in their newfound belief, they came to ‘know’ what resurrection meant. We, too, have heard that Christ is risen. Like the women at the tomb, we must act on this truth—relying on it, trusting in it—if we are to move beyond mere words and truly understand its meaning; our salvation depends on it.

St Paul once wrote: “The message we preach is Christ, who has been raised from the dead.” He then spells out the devastating consequences of rejecting this belief: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile: you are still in your sins. And then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people the most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:12, 17-19)

St Paul captures our experience of life in this world with unsettling accuracy. He acknowledges that we all want to be good and we all try to be good, yet he notes the tragic gap between our good intentions and our actions: “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:19) Left to our own devices, we can only expect to be brought to a “wretched end,” as St Matthew would put it. (C.f.: Genesis 3;19; 6:5-7; Matthew 21:41) For, as St Paul bluntly puts it: “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

If death is the final word, life becomes an exercise in futility and all is hopeless. (C.f.: Ecclesiastes 1:2-3) We are left only with the somber reality of the Psalmist: “Our span is seventy years or eighty for those who are strong. And most of these are emptiness and pain. They pass swiftly and we are gone.” (Psalm 90:10) Without resurrection, why would we endure all this emptiness and pain? If this life is all there is, we are indeed the most pitiable of all!

And yet, in Christ we see someone just like us, but one who successfully does the good he intends to do, even when it requires a profound struggle. (Luke 22:44; Matthew 4:1) In him we witness the lived reality that it is possible for a human being to be truly good. (Hebrews 4:15) Though the world condemned him and claimed he’d got it wrong (c.f.: John10:31-32), he is ultimately vindicated by the Father and granted life in its fullest sense. (c.f.: John17:3)

When we glimpse this risen Christ—even if only in a fleeting moment (c.f.: Luke 24:31), like the disciples of Emmaus—hope begins to take root, and grows within us. We find ourselves saying to ourselves: “If he can do this, why can’t I?” And we begin to long to have what he has: that Spirit which empowers him to do the good he desires—and so, we begin to hope with an eager longing that we, too, may be good, and with the promise of life’s fullness unfolding before us. (C.f.: Matthew 25:21, 34; Romans 8:23)

Before his passion, Christ said to us, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7) This reveals the heart of our celebration: Easter is not so much about miraculous resuscitations and angelic apparitions, as about the gift of Christ’s Spirit. Through this Spirit we can become one like Jesus—beings finally and fully alive. In this sense, the high point of our Easter celebration is Pentecost. (C.f.: Matthew 27:29; Mark 15:37; John 20:22; Mark 1:10-11; Genesis 2:7; Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:2)

When we find ourselves finally able to do the good we desire, we must recognise that his Spirit has come upon us. (C.f.: Rule of St Benedict [RB] 4:42-43; 7:70) When we find that we do in fact do those good acts we want to do, this is proof that Christ is Risen. For, in our virtuous living, we should know that Christ has been raised up to the right hand of God—where he is living forever to intercede for us, ensuring that we can accomplish the good we want to do by the “help of his grace.” (Hebrews 7:25; RB Prologue:4, 40-41; 7:70; John 14:12)

This is the ultimate point of our celebration this morning: that we may be able to be good, and to do the good we desire. As St Paul puts it: “The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters”—that is, to see those who can and do God’s will. (C.f.: Mark 1:11) Paul continues: “And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our bodies. For this hope we are saved.” (Romans 8:19, 23-25) The redemption of our bodies, our resurrection, is inextricably tied to our ability to do God’s will; this is the hope for which we long. This hope, however, cannot remain a mere sentiment—it must be expressed. We must exercise our hope by striving to do the good we want to do, and when we fall time and again, we get up and have another go; it is in our persistence that our hope becomes a living, breathing reality. (C.f.: Romans 4:20-22)

What, then, is it that we must do? (C.f.: Acts 2:37) St Matthew has Jesus welcoming us into eternal life with the words: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” (Matthew 25:34-36) Or as St Benedict would have it: “No one should pursue what he judges advantageous to himself, but rather what benefits others.” (RB 72:4-7) This is the “good” we are now empowered to do and are striving to accomplish. Resurrection and the gift of the Spirit are not meant for our private comfort, but for the world’s healing—we are to care for one another as we come to recognise them as our sisters and brothers; we are to care for our earth and all within it when we come to see it as our Common Home. (Romans 8:20-21) This is what we must do. Therefore, with all the urgency of those who came away from the empty tomb this morning, “let us run and do now what will profit us forever.” (Matthew 28:7-8; RB Prologue:44. C.f.: Romans 4:20-22)