Practicing Resurrection!

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Easter Sunday!

Easter Sunday invites us to ‘practice resurrection.’

Yes, celebrating Easter means joyfully remembering the victory of Jesus over death and evil. It is about rejoicing over what the empty tomb signified. It is also about celebrating the appearances of the Lord to his disciples and others. 

Though all these point to resurrection, if we do not know how to live out the reality of resurrection, our celebrations lose their significance and meaning. Hence, we are invited to ask ourselves, ‘How can we practice what Jesus accomplished on Easter?’

There are certain models we can look up to in order to learn to practice resurrection. 

1. The Risen Lord

By doing ordinary and everyday things in the days after his resurrection, Christ showed what it means to practice resurrection.

1. He came to Mary as a gardener and not as a king. He was so ordinary that she did not recognize him at first. After all, who would closely look at a servant who tends the gardens? (Jn 20:15). 

2. On the beach, he made breakfast for his friends. But Jesus was unrecognizable, maybe because of his ordinariness, or their eyes could not discover the Lord from how he looked or acted. Only the miracle of the catch of 153 large fish that weighed down their nets helped them realize it was their master and not someone else (Jn 21:1-17).

3. He came as a stranger and walked for a whole day explaining the scriptures to a couple of his disciples before they recognized him. The Risen Lord chose to accompany them in their walk rather than manifesting his divinity in all its radiance and glory (Lk 24:13-35). 

4. He appeared to his disciples, afraid and hiding behind closed doors. He let them touch him, calmed their fears, and sent them out to change the world (Jn 20:19-29).

In essence, Jesus shows that our ordinariness is enough to practice resurrection. 

2. Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene was the first to witness the empty tomb and had a direct and personal encounter with the Risen Lord. In her encounter, Jesus tells her ‘not to hold on to him’ (Jn 20:17). What does it mean when Jesus asks Mary to stop holding on to him and instead go and practice resurrection? 

With those words, Jesus turned a woman, stuck and wallowing in grief, into a messenger who would joyfully proclaim the message that the Lord is risen. Here, ‘Go and tell my brothers’ would mean that she imbibes the message that Christ is alive before making it a proclamation. It is expected that her faith in the Risen Lord precedes her proclamation because Christ wants the lives of those who hear the truth of resurrection to be transformed forever – from fear to courage, from grief to joy, and from despair to hope. In other words, believing the message of resurrection makes continuing the old life impossible and mandates the transition to a new life and self that manifests in every way that Christ is risen. 

In sending Mary Magdalene as a herald of his resurrection, Christ wants her to internalize the truth about it. 

1. There is no death to love, and true love resurrects itself from anything that seeks to destroy or defy its power. 

2. Christ’s resurrection is a solid reminder that there is no death to goodness. The challenges and difficulties that the good people encounter are only bends on their roads, not their ends. 

3. Jesus wants his disciples to remember that truth alone triumphs, and until then, it does not give up the fight. A seed covered in mud is preparation for its germination and not its death. 

We discover that practicing resurrection is followed by internalizing the truth of it. It is when she realizes the truth that the grief-stricken Mary Magdalene is transformed into a herald of Christ’s resurrection. 

3. The Early Church

How did the early church practice resurrection? Acts 4:32-35 throws light on how the believers kept everything in common in a real-life setting. 

‘Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power, the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.’

Unpacking the verses, we understand that the early Church practiced resurrection in total detachment and selfless giving.

1. The early Church was of one heart and soul. 

2. Their concentration was the Lord’s mission and not the accumulation of wealth.

3. Their love for the Lord enabled them to love others equally and without discrimination so that there was no one in need. 

Practicing resurrection is to follow the model of the early Church, where everything was understood only in its relation to the Lord’s mission.  

Having been inspired by the models of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the early Church to practice resurrection, how can we take it from the sanctuary to the society? 

Upon inviting others to practice resurrection, we may be ridiculed with the question, ‘Have you ever raised someone from the dead?’ 

Once when she was confronted with this question, the Catholic theologian Megan McKenna affirmed, ‘Every time I bring hope into a situation, every time I bring joy that shatters despair, every time I forgive others and give them back dignity and the possibility of a future with me and others in the community, every time I listen to others and affirm them and their life, every time I speak the truth in public, every time I confront injustice – yes – I bring people back from the dead.’

Thus, if practicing resurrection is the call, what is the need to do so? 

If we fail to practice resurrection and if we do not take resurrection from sanctuary to society, Christ’s resurrection may remain just a fascinating story while not changing lives as it should. 

The Risen Lord is not just a fascinating story. He is a powerful memory that demands a response as he continues to impact lives by building bridges of love while bringing down the walls of separation. 

Let us pray that by practicing resurrection, we may become witnesses to the life-transforming power of the Risen Lord. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar