Jesus said: “Whom are you looking for?”

by Paul Yeung
2014-04-20

The Mass of Easter Sunday


Acts 10:34A, 37-43


Peter proceeded to speak and said: “You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. 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 to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Colossians 3:1-4


Brothers and sisters:

If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.

John 20:1-9


On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

When every dream in our lives seems to vanish and every expectation dashed, the sight of an empty tomb can be devastating. The fear within us can blindsight us from seeing the real meaning of the empty tomb. And we doubt whether we will survive our own Good Fridays.

Looking into the empty tomb, “whom are you looking for?” (John 20:15)

Jesus Christ has risen and has renewed the face of the earth! We should see the world with new eyes. We should “seek the things that are above”. (Colossians 3:1) And as we look beyond the darkest moments of our lives, we will then see the hopes arising from the empty tomb and a whole new world awaiting us. The empty tomb is no longer a fear that grips but a promise that delivers. Jesus is no longer in the tomb!

Instead of setting out to look for Jesus in the empty tomb, let us set out to look for and encounter the Risen Lord elsewhere. Where? As we proclaim the Good News to others; as we live out what we proclaim through our good deeds; and as we love to the point that really hurts, there is Jesus!

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