Happy Easter, everyone! On May 9, 1991, Mike and Kathie Clareywoke up, and she prayed, ‘Good morning, Lord. What a beautiful day You created for us to celebrate Your Ascension into heaven.’ Soon, however, something was wrong in creation. Their eleven-year-old daughter, Katie, left for her paper route and didn’t come home on time. They prayed, went out looking, called 911, and feared the worst. Two hours later, the police arrived saying that they had found Katie’s body.
It was the darkest day of their lives. They felt abandoned by God. Mike thought: ‘Could it be that all we believed to be true in our faith was just a terrible hoax? No! It could not be true! Our life, Katie’s life, would have been meaningless. But why [did God allow this?]’ The next day, Kathie wrote in her journal: ‘Lord, only You can help me through this day… Katie’s death is more than I can bear unless I truly believe You love her and us more than I can fathom. Maybe in Your greater mercy You called Katie home now… Lord, it is only in my faith in You and in the resurrection that I can believe and begin to hope to be reunited with Katie in heaven.’ That same day, when their priest was with them, Katie’s younger brother blurted out, ‘Father, when is the resurrection?’ Mike was amazed that his five-year-old son didn’t doubt Jesus; he just wanted to know when he would be with his sister again (Jeff Cavins & Matthew Pinto, Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer, 99-117).
This is our theme tonight: God always wants to resurrect—it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. This is Who He is: He is our Father and wants to resurrect our relationship with Him, our relationships with each other, and even our bodies, whether it’s after we die or right now. But deep in the human heart (in my heart), there’s doubt: I know God is good but is He that good? Does He love us that much? Every disciple of Jesus doubted Him, except for one (we’ll come back to her later).
In the Gospel tonight, the women go to Jesus’ tomb, and miraculously encounter an angel who says, “‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; has been raised from the dead…’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy” (Mt 28:5-6,8). This mix of emotions indicates that they partially understand the Resurrection. Three years ago, we covered the main points in favour of the Resurrection as a historical event. Tonight, let’s just cover three:
One argument for the Resurrection is that it’s an explanation for the rapid growth of Christianity as a world religion. Jesus spent only three years preaching and then was executed—this is why His followers abandoned Him. Yet, in three hundred years, it took over the Roman empire. Compare this with other world religions. Buddha and Confucius had long lives teaching, and, at their deaths, weren’t rejected but celebrated; Muhammad had a wealthy wife and military victories to help gather followers and spread his teaching. In these cases, we have three causes that spread their religions: long careers, financial resources, and success in battle—Jesus didn’t have these (Fr. Gerald O’Collins, Easter Faith, 39-40). So, historians search for a cause to explain the effect, and many believe that the Resurrection is the only adequate cause for so many people accepting Jesus’ message and then spreading it.
Second, Matthew records that there were guards at Jesus’ tomb—critics have suggested this is part of a made-up story. But we have reason to believe it’s authentic. Think about the arguments that would have happened between Jewish leaders and Christians in the first century (Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ, 212): Christians say, ‘Jesus is risen.’ The Jewish leaders say, ‘You guys stole his body from the tomb!’ Christians say, ‘The guards at the tomb would have stopped us.’ The leaders say, ‘The guards fell asleep.’ But if there were no guards, the exchange would have gone like this: ‘Jesus is risen.’ ‘You guys stole his body!’ ‘The guards would have stopped us.’ ‘Guards? There were no guards’—the fact that they never said that lends credence to guards really being there and preventing the stealing of a body.
Third, every historian finds it fascinating that the Gospels record Jesus appearing to women, because, at that time, women couldn’t give legal testimony. So, if the Resurrection had been made up by Christians, why weaken your case by saying that women were the first to see Him risen?
Jesus’ Resurrection is a real historical event, and He still does miracles today. I have never seen physical miracles myself, but a number of books write about them in ways that are credible. Dr. Bob Schuchts, in Be Healed, writes about his own skepticism and then seeing someone legally blind and another with fibromyalgia (79) instantaneously healed. Once, a teenage girl’s injured leg literally grew eight inches while he was holding it (98)! But the key to her healing was forgiving the man whose car hit her.
That brings us to an important point. God wants to resurrect the most important things. Think about an image we’ve used: There’s a man whose relationship with his children is terrible. He hurt them when they were young and never apologized. When they grew up, they resented him. Then he gets terminal cancer. Now, which would be the greater healing: healing the cancer or healing their relationship? This is what God the Father wants most of all. Tonight, 14 people will have their relationship with God the Father restored through the gift of Baptism. This is greater than healing the body and what Jesus wants. After the women leave the tomb, they meet Jesus, Who says, “Greetings! … Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (28:9-10). These men betrayed Him, but He calls them ‘brothers,’ because He wants to restore His relationship with them.
Do we have hope that God will restore our relationship with Him? With others? The joke goes that an elderly farmer and his wife were in a church service when suddenly a devil appeared out of nowhere, sending people screaming out of the church, all except the farmer, who sat there calmly. The devil said to him, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ The farmer said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Aren’t you afraid?’ ‘Nope.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Because I’ve been married to your sister for 40 years’ (Dr. Ray Guarendi, Marriage: Small Steps, Big Rewards, 71). So, unless you’re married to Satan or his sister, healing of relationships is possible!
A man named Mitch once went with his wife to a Catholic marriage workshop but didn’t think it would be helpful. During one exercise on forgiveness, he thought his wife would say something generic and he’d forgive her, but, instead, she sat for a long time in silence and then said, ‘Please forgive me for being bitter.’ Years before, when they were arguing, he threatened to leave, and this caused her untold pain, but he never knew it. So, he forgave her bitterness and then asked her forgiveness for causing it (Allen R. Hunt, Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody, 26-27). I’ve seen this kind of miracle hundreds of times. What’s necessary is to tell Jesus, ‘I trust You. I believe in You. Please heal my relationship with God the Father, with my family.’
Recently, I was talking to a man who was ready to leave the Catholic Church. He was so sick of the hypocrisy of Catholics. I told him to press in and not give up. He was going through a spiritual crucifixion. But, if he promises never to leave Jesus, he’ll experience the resurrection. I felt badly for him, but I was also really happy for him because I’ve been through that, and the resurrection is so good!
Years after Katie’s death, Mike and Kathie Clarey have faith that Katie is with Jesus but they’ll have to wait until they see her again.
The only disciple who never doubted that Jesus would rise was his mother Mary. She went through hell watching Him die, but, was she the first to see Jesus risen, even before St. Mary Magdalene? We don’t know. All we know is that she knew He would rise again. It wasn’t a question of if, it was a question of when.
Happy Easter!