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HOMILIES

9. Homily - Sunday, April 12, 2020

Easter Sunday - The Resurrection of the Lord - Year A (Jn 20, 1-9)

Jesus Christ is risen! The Lord is risen! He is risen, indeed!

The Lord is risen! He is risen, indeed!

If we can say this again today, it is because 2,000 years ago, the risen Jesus showed himself
to men and women. He did not show himself to all of them, but to his apostles and to certain
disciples, and only to them. But after their experience of the risen Jesus, they spent the rest of
their life to proclaim his resurrection: The crucified one is resurrected! He is alive!

From generation to generation up to the present day, the witnesses announced and
announced again that Jesus is risen! But only the disciples and the apostles of the first gener-
ation really saw him. The passing on of this wonderful news continues by personal testimony.
It is the credibility of this testimony that lets us believe that Jesus crucified, a historical event
in itself, is truly risen! The resurrection of Jesus is an event in history, but at the same time, it
is an event that transcends history and goes beyond history.

There is also another way to see the risen Jesus. It is not to see the risen Jesus in person, but
it is to see a sign of Jesus, it is to see a sign that Jesus is risen. For most of us, we can only see
such a sign, as most of us cannot see the risen Jesus in this life. But we know that we will see
him in heaven. But in this life, we can only see signs.

When Peter and John arrived at the tomb, they entered it. Peter entered first, he sees and
there it stops. He sees that the tomb is empty, but that is all. But when John enters the tomb
following Peter, we read in the Gospel that he saw and believed.

Did John the Apostle see the risen Jesus? No, but he saw a sign! A sign of his resurrection.
What sign did he see? He saw the linen that had wrapped Jesus’ body and the cloths that had
wrapped his head, and they were still there. Someone might have taken off the linens and
carried out the body, but it was not like this. They were still there! The lines were still there,
in their place!

The linens were lying there. Why? Because the body of Christ is risen, his body passed through
the lines by the power of the resurrection! This is a dazzling sign! Jesus is risen, and John saw
a sign in these linens that were lying there and had stayed in their place. He recognized the
sign that Jesus was resurrected. He believed that Jesus was resurrected.

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 127