EASTER SUNDAY - Acts 10:34, 37-43
Easter is the greatest feast in the Christian calendar. It comes from the Jewish Passover, in which the liberation from slavery was celebrated. On Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who conquered death, defeating the slavery of sin, for us to become the beloved children of God. Thus, we are invited to die with Christ to rise with Him.
On the first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, while addressing Cornelius, Peter presents a summary of the great events surrounding Jesus Christ. According to Peter, everybody heard, and many saw what happened with Jesus. After John the Baptist, Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, “went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil”. And Peter stresses the fact that there were many witnesses of what Jesus said and did. However, despite his goodness, they killed Him on a cross; “yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand.” Peter and his companions are the witnesses who had the privilege of having the experience of the Risen Lord. Indeed, “we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead.” From the Lord himself, they received the mandate “to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead.” Jesus is risen and has been constituted the judge of the living and the dead. As a consequence of his rising from the dead to be at the right hand of the Father, “all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.”
With Peter, we give witness that Jesus is alive, being glorified and constituted the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He is the Saviour and Redeemer of humankind. Before him, all knees shall bow, and all tongues confess “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Fil 2:11).
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul tells us that, if we die with Christ, “when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.” For that to be true, Christ must become our model so that we “look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth.” (Col 3:1-4).
