He is risen! He is risen! Hallelujah! He is risen from the dead! Well, happy Easter! Can you tell that I am a tad bit excited? You should be excited as well. We are celebrating something that has never occurred in the history of the world. No one ever rose from the dead on their own power. Our blessed Lord conquered mans greatest fear, the fear of death. God almighty took on flesh and dwelt among us. He taught us with stories and parables and miracles the very truths of eternity. He suffered and laid down His life so that we might live, and now He has overcome death itself and we too can partake of His resurrection glory. How cool is that!
Some people might ask how we can be so sure that Jesus rose from the dead. In today’s readings, we have some answers. Many of the people who witnessed the resurrection were still alive when the gospels began to be written down. They were eyewitnesses. They were actually there. Now consider this, for the next some 300 years, the Church would be persecuted and many of the faithful would be martyred in hideous ways. The reason I bring this up is because no one would die for a lie. Especially hundreds of years after it occurred. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then as St. Paul says, our Faith is
foolishness. C.S. Lewis said that “Jesus was the Lord, a liar, or a lunatic”. Whatever He was it certainly would not be a “good man” or a “good teacher “as the modern world likes to categorize Him. Why? Because what He taught would have been a lie. He said He would rise after three days. If He did not, thousands would have given their lives up for nothing, and our Faith would be folly. It would be reprehensible and the greatest fraud in all of history. Furthermore, He claimed to be God, not just a good teacher and commanded people to believe in Him. If this were not true then He would be considered a lunatic or crazy. If however it is true, as the Church He established and all the eyewitnesses have attested to throughout history. Billions (with a B), believe it to be so and have dedicated their lives to this fact, that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and there is nothing more to fear. Death has lost its sting. He did it because He loves you…He loves you …He really does love you…Question is will you love Him in return…Happy Easter!