Easter Sunday - Ways We Can Tell Jesus is Risen

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, alleluia!

After His death, Jesus’ body taken down from the Cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. St. John the Apostle, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the women who stood at the Cross, accompanied Joseph and Nicodemus. Before they placed Jesus in the tomb, they had wrapped Our Lord’s head in a cloth napkin and placed His body in a shroud of fresh linen.

The men rolled a large rock in front of the opening of the tomb. The soldiers sealed the tomb so if the tomb was tampered with, it would be known. It doesn’t take long for a body to begin to decay. Although the body of Jesus had been dead for three days, there was no stench, because God preserved His body from corruption. As the Acts of Apostles states, “You will not let your Holy One undergo corruption.”

But something incredible happened. There was a miracle that had never occurred in the history of mankind. When Jesus was alive, Our Lord worked the miracle of healing the blind, and the crippled. He had worked the miracle of walking on the sea and calming the storm. He had multiplied the loaves and the fish. He had expelled demons. He turned water into wine. He even raised to life a dead man and a little girl. But now He surpasses all these miracles and gives His definitive proof He is God. He predicted His own death and resurrection when He said, “The Son of Man will be handed over and killed, but three days later He will rise.” He fulfills His own prophecy.

By His resurrection, He proves everything He had said is true: bread are wine are changed into His body and blood; He truly is the Son of the Eternal Father; all the sacraments truly give grace and all His promises will come true, that we will have eternal life if we believe in Him and we too will have a resurrected body. That He is the way, the truth and the life.

Early in the morning before sunrise, as His body lay in the tomb, there was a violent earthquake, most likely caused by an angel. The rock in front of the tomb rolled away. The guards stationed to keep watch were dumbstruck and could not move because of the immensity and power of it all. When able, they immediately reported what they saw but were given bribe money to say the disciples had stolen the body.

By His own almighty power, Jesus rose from the dead and at that instant His body was made new and resurrected. His body immediately burst through the shroud, and as He stood there, He removed the napkin, around His head and rolled it up and placed to the side. With His new resurrected body, He is still able to eat and drink and be touched, yet His body can walk through walls. He walked through the walls of the tomb and through the walls of the upper room when He first appeared to the Apostles.

According to Catholic tradition, Jesus first appeared to His Blessed Mother. Our Lady had expected Jesus to rise from the dead. She had recalled Jesus say, “In three days, He would rise.” Yet, She did not know it would be so early in the morning. Her heart must have leapt for joy to see Her Son. How beautiful the embrace between the Mother and the Son.

Mary Magdalene and the other women who came to anoint the dead body of Jesus early in the morning, would be rewarded for their love, and would see the angels in the tomb, who would announce, “He is risen. He is risen Indeed”. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” They told the women to go and tell the apostles and they quickly ran to tell them.

Out of excitement and disbelief, Peter and John ran to the tomb. John who was younger, outran Peter, waits to go in the tomb, out of respect for Peter’s authority. John follows Peter into the tomb. They look inside and see the napkin rolled up by itself in a separate place and they believe.

On that Easter Sunday Jesus appeared to the 10 apostles, without Thomas. He appeared to two men on the road to Emmaus. 8 days later He appeared to the 11 with Thomas and showed Thomas His hands, His feet and His side. He appeared on the side of the shore while the apostles were in the boat and cooked fish for them on a charcoal fire. He appeared privately to Peter and privately to James. He appeared to over 500 people at one time in Jerusalem. He appeared to the Apostles during 40 days instructing them. Then He appeared to the 11 apostles and the Virgin Mary on the top of a mountain before He ascended into heaven. A year later, He appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, how do we know these things are true today over 2000 years later? Here are some true stories we can see Jesus is risen from the dead.

About 5 years ago, I visited a patient in a hospital. The man’s feet were terribly infected and I noticed one foot had an open wound on the top of foot. I thought of the wounds in the feet of Jesus and told the man, he was experiencing some of the pain Jesus felt on the cross. The man said, “Yes, I know, I have thought about that too”. He said, “I am in constant terrible pain, but I know Jesus is with me through this”. He said, “If it wasn’t for Jesus, I could not being going through this.” The man said, “Despite my suffering, I have peace because Jesus is always with me.” The man endures his suffering because he believes Jesus is risen and is with Him.

When I was a pastor at a particular parish, one weekend, I decided to preach on marriage and said to the people, that sometimes when we are young, we don’t realize we make wrong choices, and perhaps some couples may not have been married in the Catholic Church. I said, “If that happened, then your marriage is invalid and you should not be receiving Holy Communion, until you first get married in the Church. Otherwise, you commit a sacrilegious Communion, which is a mortal sin.” I said, “Don’t be afraid, I can help rectify your marriage and then after you have gone to confession and get married in the Church, you can receive Holy Communion. And by doing so, you will have peace and your marriage will be a sacramental marriage, and so you will receive sacramental graces to live out your marriage.”

Within a week, several couples called and said they wanted to be married in the Church. Both couples needed to get annulments. I had meetings with each couple.

One of the couples, the man wasn’t Catholic, but his wife wife was Catholic. She immediately discontinued receiving Holy Communion. We filled out the annulment papers and within 6 months, the couple received notification of their annulments, and their wedding was scheduled. The morning of the wedding, she went to confession. Later, the man decided to go through RCIA and he became Catholic a year later.

The other couple was easily able to obtain an annulment because the previous marriage, of the Catholic was not married in the church, and all that was needed was to fill out some forms and obtain the baptismal record and marriage license. They had their annulment in just a few weeks and were then married in the church about a month later.

Both couples believe Jesus is risen and wanted Him to be part of their marriage. Jesus helped them to overcome sin in their lives and they began to live a life of grace, flowing from the sacrament of marriage. Jesus helped them to be reconciled with God and procure a valid marriage, so He could be part of their married life.

Another example of proof of Jesus resurrection. One day, 21 year old Ryan Penney, from Alabama jumped off of a cliff into the water and broke his back. The doctor said he would never be able to walk again. The man hadn’t been going to church nor had he gone to confession for years. He was beginning a successful career as an actor, and a few weeks before the accident, he said he told God, he will do things his own way and not God’s way. But then after the accident he found himself turning to God seeking answers. He eventually went to confession and did several years of therapy. Though he was gradually improving, he could not walk. One Sunday, after He attending Mass, he told his mother, “I am going to get up from this pew and walk to the car.” He got up and slowly began to walk and he walked all the way to the car. His parents and the people were astonished. He said, “This happened at Mass, and so it was Jesus who helped me walk again.” Today, Ryan gives inspirational talks to young boys explaining the meaning of manhood. To be a man, he said one needs to be a Christian, who believes in Jesus and lives His life as a true Christian.

A few years ago, a woman told me she was carrying a grudge for a long time, but just could not get rid of it. One day, she said she went to the adoration chapel of her parish, and as she was thinking and praying about the grudge, she said she heard a man’s voice, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Startled by the voice, she said she turned around and saw a man in the back of the chapel, but his eyes were closed and he was in prayer. She looked and saw a woman, a few pews from her, but knew it wasn’t her. She suddenly realized it was Jesus in the Eucharist, who spoke to her and immediately she had peace and the grudge disappeared.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson was an abortionist who admitted to killing 75,000 unborn babies. He was raised a Jew, but was really an atheist. Until one day, he watched a real time abortion by ultrasound and seeing the reaction of the unborn child, who died, he swore he would never do abortions again. He soon accepted Jesus and decided to become Catholic. He was baptized at St. Patricks’ Cathedral on Dec. 8^th, 1996 on the feast of the Immaculate Conception by Cardinal John O’Conner. Because he was baptized, he did not have to confess his sins to a priest in confession, because when the water was poured over his head, not only were his sins washed away, but the punishment due to his sins washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy. By seeing the horror of an unborn child who struggled to live, the resurrected Jesus touched his heart and changed his life. He became a strong pro-life advocate and developed a movie called Silent Scream, which shows the horror of abortion. The story of Bernard Nathanson shows the beauty of the sacrament of baptism and God’s infinite mercy and love for each of us.

Jesus is risen! Jesus is with us! If we are looking for proof that He is risen from the dead, all we need to do is to see how Jesus changed the lives of those around us. All we need to do is to gaze upon the Eucharist, because in the Eucharist, is the divine person of Jesus really and truly present in His resurrected physical human body.

On this happy Easter Sunday, let us rejoice and give thanks to God with Mary, His Mother, who saw Him first, for He is risen, He is risen indeed alleluia, alleluia!