And Jesus answered:
“The
words are your own. Moreover, I tell you that from this time
onward you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the
Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mt 26:63-64).
In
other words, Jesus says “Yes I am the Son of God.” For
Jesus to make a claim like that he must have been either a liar,
insane, or he was telling the truth, because it is an extraordinary
thing to say. We believe it was the truth and that is exactly
who Jesus is, not just a holy man, or a prophet, but the Son of God.
In
the book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, St. John the disciple of Jesus
who stood at the cross, recalls a vision he had where a man appeared
to him. He says that he saw what seemed to be a man. His
hair was white as wool, or snow. His eyes were like fire.
His skin was like shining bronze and out of his mouth came a
double-edged sword. He says that he was so afraid when he saw
this that he fell down as if dead. Then this person or being
that he saw touched him and said
“Do
not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the living one.
I was dead and now I am to live forever and ever and I hold the keys
of death and of the underworld” (Rev
1:17b-18).
Who
was this person? It was of course Jesus, risen from death.
Not just the Jesus whose name we so often hear used carelessly as a
swear word, but Jesus who is the Son of God. Now John, who had
this vision, had known and lived with Jesus for at least three years,
so why would Jesus appear to him in such a terrifying way?
Perhaps to remind him and us of who Jesus really is, that is, the Son
of God.
From
a human point of view Good Friday is the ultimate sign of despair.
Everything falls apart and everyone is devastated. There is a
terrible miscarriage of justice and Jesus, the one everyone was
putting their hope in is tortured in a very savage way and killed.
Even Jesus on the cross feels abandoned by God. He is not
actually abandoned by God but that is how he feels and he cries out
“My God, my God why have you abandoned me.” The ultimate
suffering is to feel that we have been abandoned even by God.
From a human point of view it couldn’t get any worse.
Then
we have the silence of Holy Saturday when Jesus is in the tomb.
People are in shock, numb from what has happened and not sure what to
do next. And then we come to Easter Sunday, the opposite of
Good Friday and the ultimate symbol of hope. The unimaginable
happens and rumours start to spread that Jesus is alive. ‘But
that is impossible!’ many said. Most of the disciples would not
believe it initially, yet that is what happened. From a human
point of view it is impossible and naive to think such a thing could
be possible, but there is more than human work here. The power
of God has brought about something extraordinary which no human mind
can take in. This is what God has made known to us.
The
reason Easter is the ultimate symbol of hope is because now the worst
thing imaginable, which is death, is no longer permanent. God
has opened a doorway for us to something wonderful when we die, so
that we can see and be with our loved ones again. Think of the
people you love who are dead. Without Easter they could not
experience happiness now and neither could we when we die. So
now our life has greater purpose than just what happens here and that
gives us a greater hope than anything else. Now we have reason
to keep going even when things are difficult. Now we are given
purpose and we have a better sense of what our life is about; that
is, our journey that will lead us to God if we remain open to it.
“Do
not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the living one.
I was dead and now I am to live forever and ever and I hold the keys
of death and of the underworld.”
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