Daily Gospel Reflection – Monday in the Octave of Easter
Monday in the Octave of Easter
Mt 28:8-15
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.
*United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters the women on the road to tell the disciples of his Resurrection, early evidence for the reality of his rising.
Far too many contemporary scholars attempt to explain away the Resurrection, turning it into a myth, a legend, a symbol, a sign that the cause of Jesus goes on. But this kind of speculation is born in faculty lounges, for few in the first century would have found that kind of talk the least bit convincing.
Can you imagine Paul tearing into Corinth or Athens with the message that there was an inspiring dead man who symbolized the presence of God? No one would have taken him seriously. Instead, what Paul declared in all of those cities was anastasis (resurrection). What sent him and his colleagues all over the Mediterranean world (and their energy can be sensed on every page of the New Testament) was the shocking novelty of the Resurrection of a dead man through the power of the Holy Spirit.
A dead man who stayed in his grave would be, necessarily, a false Messiah, and his teaching, however inspiring, could never hold off the power of death.
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