"Christ is risen! Alleluia!" We joyfully exclaim that our Lord has risen from the tomb because we know and believe it is true. We have faith in Jesus. This faith is bolstered by the Gospel accounts and other New Testament writings, as well as two thousand years of Catholic teaching and theological reflection.
Unlike ourselves, Mary Magdalene, Peter and John (the three main characters of Easter Sunday's Gospel (John 20:1-9), did not have the benefit of drawing on the wisdom and experience of centuries of belief in Christ. The Gospel accounts indicate that they were joyfully surprised to find out that Jesus had risen from the dead. Even though Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection in a number of ways and on several occasions, his followers did not understand what he meant until it actually happened.
On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene was simply going to our Lord's tomb so that she could anoint Christ's body with perfumed oil and spices. Peter and John were hiding somewhere waiting for "the dust to clear" after Jesus died on the cross. None of the three seemed to have any expectations of Jesus being resurrected. Let us consider each of the three in more detail.
As we know from other scriptural accounts, Jesus had given Mary Magdalene new life when she "had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities" (Luke 8:2). Mary Magdalene's encounter with Jesus' healing grace represented a major turning point in her life. She had been heavily burdened, but through Jesus' merciful healing she was given new life. From that point on, Mary Magdalene seems to have become one of Jesus's most faithful followers. She was one of the few who remained with Jesus at the foot of the cross. As Mary Magdalene visits our Lord's tomb to attend to his body, we can imagine that she wanted to express her gratefulness to Jesus. It is the least she could do for Jesus, whom she had come to love deeply.
As Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb, she saw that the stone was rolled away and went immediately to tell Peter and John (John 20:2). Mary would not have been at the tomb in the first place if she had not become one of Jesus' closest followers. So, Mary Magdalene witnesses to us the grace of personal conversion. In her, we see how God's grace has borne much fruit.
Then, there's Peter, whose weakness is clearly evident throughout the Gospels. We need only to recall how he denied the Lord three times. Yet, on Easter morning, something is clearly different. In the first reading for Easter Sunday, we ponder Peter's words, proclaiming: "This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead" (Acts 10:40-42). Following the resurrection, it is clear that Peter was much different from what we saw in the Passion account.
Returning to the scene on Easter morning: Peter and John ran to the tomb. John ran faster and arrived first (Jn 20:4). But John waited at the tomb to allow Peter, as the head of the Church, to be the first to verify that Jesus was no longer there, that Jesus had risen. As soon as Peter saw the burial clothes, he must have realized that had someone removed the body of Jesus, they would have left him wrapped in his burial clothes.
If we see conversion emphasized in the figure of Mary Magdalene, we see in the case of Peter the importance of witness in the Church. Peter saw and believed, and went out to proclaim the truth of Christ's death and resurrection, as we see him doing in the Acts of the Apostles.
As to John, we remember that he was "the disciple whom Jesus loved." At the Last Supper, John seems to have a special relationship with Jesus. On Good Friday, in our prayer, we accompanied John at the foot of the Cross, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene and Mary, the wife of Clopas. On Easter morning, John reached the tomb before Peter, perhaps because he was younger and in better shape than Peter. In a symbolic way, we can think that because John did not have to bear the heavy weight of leading the Church which Peter had to bear, he could run faster than Peter. It is as if John's love propelled him faster towards the tomb. Yet, when he arrived at the tomb, he stopped and waited for Peter, so that, as the head of the Church, Peter could make the official verification.
In this way, John represents the love that sparks a desire in us to grow ever deeper in our conversion. It is a love that moves us to testify to God's goodness and grace in our lives. We can say that Johanine love is the common denominator for both Mary Magdalene's conversion and Peter's mission of witness. In other words, true conversion and true witness are founded on love.
To celebrate Easter means to commit ourselves anew to deeper conversion, in the spirit of Mary Magdalene, and to courageously witness to Jesus' saving grace in our lives, in the spirit of Peter. Finally, to celebrate Easter means to intend to proclaim in word and in deed: "Jesus Christ is risen, Alleluia!"
May the power of Easter perdure in our lives so that the Lord may continually call us to new life and greater holiness. May "this Easter mystery of our redemption bring to perfection the saving work [he has] begun in us" (Prayer over the Gifts, Easter Sunday).
