[stephenkhoo]

MAKING SENSE OF THE EMPTY TOMB
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ GN 1:1–2:2; GN 22:1-18; EX 14:15–15; ISA 54:5-14; ISA 55:1-11; BAR 3:9-15, 32, 4:4; EZ 36:16-28; ROM 6:3-11; MATT 28:1-10]

At every Easter Mass, we are presented with the story of the Empty Tomb. However, just because the Tomb was empty does not mean that the Lord has risen. His body, as skeptics suggest, could have been stolen and later resuscitated. The Empty Tomb only tells us that He is not there. Only faith can say, “He has risen!” Indeed, when the women narrated what they saw and heard to the Eleven, “this story of theirs seemed pure nonsense, and they did not believe them.” St Peter went to check it out for himself even. “He bent down and saw the binding cloths but nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.” He was only amazed, but he had not yet arrived at faith in the resurrection.

How can we make sense of the Empty Tomb story? What does it mean to be in the Tomb? A tomb is a place for the dead. That was what the angels told the women, “Why look among the dead for someone who is alive? He is not here; he has risen.” It is not a place for the living. When we enter a tomb, it is all darkness. There is no light. When there is no light, there is no life as well. A tomb is an eerie place because it is cold. There is no warmth only dead silence and chilly and cold. One is cut off from the world. There is no communication whatsoever. In the tomb, the person is isolated from the living.

However, in the tomb, we also see the body rotting. The stench would be unbearable. The worms would eat up the corpse. When Jesus told the people to roll the stone away from Lazarus’ tomb, Martha said, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” (Jn 11:39) This is a reminder of what hell is like, when we rot in our soul that is filled with anger, hatred, unforgiveness, envy and resentment. It also reminds us of the passing things of this life, that external beauty, wealth, power and glory, all these do not last, and we cannot bring to the next life.

This explains why people fear death. Death, as St Paul wrote, is the greatest and last enemy of man. The entire life of man from the moment he comes out of the womb of his mother is to fight against death in all its forms. Man is most fearful of death because it means to enter into non-existence, to disappear from the face of this earth. It means being cut off from our loved ones. Dying is such a frightening reality because at deathbed, we depart alone. There is no one to accompany us. For those without faith, they depart not knowing what is on the other side of death. Is it annihilation or will life continue? What will life be like? Is it the end of everything?

Can we trust the world that keeps telling us that with death, we return to dust and exist no more? Do those people who say such things believe in it themselves? It is a lie. We know better. If we truly believe life ends here, then why do secularists and atheists hold memorial services for the dead when according to them, once dead, we are nothing? The dead cannot receive our gratitude. Is a memorial service only meant for the living, not for the dead? Why do we have cemeteries and columbariums when they take up so much precious land from the living? The fact that when someone dies, we say he has departed or that he has passed on, meaning he is going somewhere. It is not the end of life.

Yet, the irony is that the more we fear death, the more we live a living death. Those who are fearful of death live selfishly. They want to protect their life and they want to prolong it. So it is a philosophy of “me first.” We become selfish and inward-looking. When we live a selfish life, concerned about ourselves, reducing life to one of sensual pleasure, we are actually living in the tomb already. A life that is lived in debauchery, cheating, promiscuity, killing cannot make us happy people. Our heart and our spirit are restless and empty. Our minds are filled with filth, wicked thoughts, greed and anger. When we live for ourselves, we become isolated from people, from authentic love and from life. We are reduced to animals, just working, eating and sleeping. There is no meaning or a higher driven purpose in life. Although we think we are alive, in fact, we are living in the tomb because life in the tomb means no light, no warmth because there is no love, no communion and our body rotting away.

However, tonight when we celebrate the Easter Vigil, we proclaim Christ is our Light. He is the One that shines through the darkness of the world. This was how we started the Easter Vigil with the service of light. Christ’s light shines out in a world of darkness, in a world of sin. In the Exsultet, the Church rejoices, “Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.”

How is He our light? “This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin. This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, leading them to grace and joining them to his holy ones. This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.” Christ is our light because He saves us from the darkness and gloom of sin, vices and the prison-bars of death. Because of our sins, we live a life of misery, frustration, anger and violence. We are addicted to the sinful pleasures of this world, pornography, drinking, womanizing and gambling. We are not free to love or to forgive. We live in fear of being discovered for the crimes and sins we have committed. We allow hatred and greed to imprison us.

As the light of the world, Jesus brings warmth to our hearts and our lives. Light always gives out heat. More so if we are living in Europe at this point of time when the weather is cold and chilly. People rejoice with the arrival of spring, of the sun and of the light and the warmth. So too, Jesus lights up our lives with His love. It was His love that overcame sin and death. By His death on the cross, the Lord emptied Himself completely in love for His Father and for sinful humanity. He demonstrated that love is more powerful than hatred. Only love can overcome death. This is true even of human relationships. When we love someone, death cannot separate us. Love is what binds us to that person in spirit and eternally. When love is deep and real, there is no barrier. Love conquers all. And even if no one loves us, knowing that God loves us, it is enough to overcome all trials and enemies in life.

Indeed, the story of the Empty Tomb means that Christ has conquered the coldness of hatred, isolation and death. In His resurrection, Christ lives a new life entirely in God. Christ is now with His Father, and in full communion with Him. Because Christ is with God, He is also with us in a new way. Resurrection means that there is no obstacle in communion. It is a life of intense communion with God and with our brothers and sisters. The resurrected life is therefore one of love and union of hearts and souls. In His resurrection, He received a transfigured body which transcends all barriers and boundaries. So the resurrection means that love conquers even death, the last enemy of man.

Today, as we celebrate this Easter Vigil, we also participate in His resurrection. In baptism, we die to our sins and are incorporated in Him. This is what St Paul urges us. “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.” Baptism is more than just belonging to a community, it is more than simply a cleansing of our sins, but it is truly sharing in Christ’s resurrection. By the gift of His Holy Spirit, we are given a rebirth and transformation to a new life. This happens only because Christ in His resurrection lives in us and we in Him, and together we are His body and He is our Head. The resurrection is not something of the past but continues to happen when we allow Christ to transform the world through us. All we need to do is to hold on to Jesus and experience the power of His resurrection. By ourselves, we are weak but with Him, we will be strong enough to change the world, to enlighten the world, give hope to humanity and change hatred to love, self-centeredness to service, and love to our brothers and sisters. We must allow the Risen Lord to enter our hearts.

In Christ, we are not only united with God but with all our brothers and sisters. We no longer live for ourselves but for Him and for one another. Our lives will then be one of joy, one of light, one of warmth, one of hope and one of love. Then we can indeed sing the Alleluia Song and with the Church sing, “Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy” because Christ is risen in our lives and in our midst. Only then will people believe that Christ is Risen when they see the Risen Lord in us. Alleluia!