Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 4, 2021
The Resurrection (1665), oil painting by Luca Giordano (1634-1705). Residenzgalerie, Salzburg, Austria. (Click image to enlarge.)
On Easter Sunday we celebrate the victory of Jesus over death through resurrection. In the first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is visiting the home of the Roman Centurion Cornelius, who is considering becoming a Christian. Peter has just had a vision in which God told him that he should join the Roman family at table. Now he tells this Roman family the story of Jesus’ life and work. He assures them that salvation through Jesus’ life, death on the cross and resurrection is meant for everyone, not just Jewish Christians. Forgiveness of our sins through God’s saving grace is given to every nation, to all people, to Jew and Gentile alike: Jesus is Lord of all.
Alternate First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9
The Prophet Isaiah imagines a sumptuous feast – a table piled high with rich food and fine wine – set out for all God’s people as a celebration of victory over death. Isaiah understood this as a national feast in the context of Israel’s dream of return from exile. Looking back through Israel’s tradition, early Christians adopted it as an image of God’s saving grace through Jesus.
Psalm: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
A feeling of joy appropriate for our Easter celebration rings through Sunday’s Psalm (which overlaps substantially with last week’s Palm Sunday Psalm). This is originally a Psalm used to celebrate Passover, and we need to honor that context. The Psalmist sings of joy blended with gratitude: Joy and gladness over salvation; delight about victory over death; and thanksgiving for God’s goodness and mercy. God has heard our prayers and responded, the Psalmist sings, laying a new cornerstone for a just world. This is the day that the Lord has made: Let us rejoice and be glad!
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
As Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians draws to its close, he speaks of the centrality of the Resurrection to Christian belief: Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised on the third day and seen by the Apostles and by hundreds of followers. Everyone who witnessed the risen Christ, he writes – including Paul himself, remembering his vision on the road to Damascus – now proclaims to the whole world that God’s saving grace comes to us through the crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Gospel: John 20:1-18
Each of the four Gospels’ accounts of the resurrection is slightly different. John’s story gives particular attention to Mary Magdalene. It presents her in beautifully tender verses as the one who remained at the empty tomb after the others had left; the first person to witness the risen Christ, and the one sent to proclaim the good news of his resurrection to the rest. In a narrative similar to other accounts of Jesus’ mysterious appearances after his resurrection, Mary did not recognize Jesus until he called her name.
Alternate Gospel: Mark 16:1-8
The story of Easter morning as told by Mark, the earliest of the Gospels, is brisk and concise. It is sunrise, and three grieving women get up early to take spices to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ beloved body. When they get there, they find that the stone has rolled away from the door! A young man dressed in white tells them, “He has been raised; he is not here. … he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” It’s not surprising that they were terrified. They ran away and told no one. And just like that, the original version of Mark’s Gospel ends, leaving us to wonder what comes next.