05/04/2026
EASTER SUNDAY HOMILY • APRIL 5, 2026
Fr. Norberto Bautista SJ
He Must Rise from the Dead
The Empty Tomb.[b] 1 On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark,[c] and saw the stone removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran[d] 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.” 3 [e]So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; 5 he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. 6 When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths[f] there, 7 and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. 8 Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. 9 [g]For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
SERMON:
The Gospel passage this morning is our first glimpse into the mystery of the Resurrection – not yet the full encounter with the Risen Christ, but the AWAKENING OF FAITH THROUGH SIGNS. The scene is quiet, subtle, and deeply contemplative.
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Mary Magdalene is the one who seeks Jesus out of her LOVE for Him.” On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark,” Scripture says.
Mary comes WHILE IT IS STILL DARK. This detail is both literal and spiritual: she is in grief over the death of Jesus; she is confused and suffers from this loss. Yet her love for Jesus moves her to seek Him even in darkness believing and hoping that even in the dark she would see Him.
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We notice for ourselves that we grieve because we have loved. We enter into this darkness confused in pain from the loss. Yet we enter into the abyss because Love pushes us to do so. Love always seeks in all directions even in death.
We miss our Beloved when he/she is gone. We try to chase and resurrect him/her in our memories, in our minds, and in our hearts. But things are different now. Our beloved is gone and only by Dark Faith can we feel and experience him/her in spirit in and through the power of the Resurrection of Christ.
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We do not only refer here to physical death, but also emotional death when once we feel betrayed and abandoned by someone close to us.
We want to resurrect them – old memories of happy moments - on our own, but cannot. Facing us is the empty tomb of our heart – still, silent, lonely, and dark.
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We enter into grief without knowing what will happen to us; without knowing when we can move on; without knowing if we will fall into despair someday, OR grow as a person because of LOVE and GRACE; without knowing when sorrow ends, and when acceptance, appreciation, and joy begin; without knowing when we can stop missing, and start relating with our beloved in spirit.
We enter into this dark mystery of death and loss willingly and courageously because of LOVE. And Love is the central thing in the Resurrection of Jesus.
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Mary Magdalene can be considered as the symbol of our Soul that longs for God, - even when understanding is not yet clear- that shows us that Love precedes Faith. In death and in life, only Faith, not our thoughts, not our feelings, can grasp the Being of God.
Love also precedes hope because we love out of love itself and for no other reason outside of love. The cause and effect of Love is Love. It is a choice that we make knowing that someday it will break our heart and mend it again… we enter into a repeated cycle of breaking and healing, dying and rising, knowing that true loving is the key to full living. Love takes that risk. Love often hurts until we translate that same Love unto the Love of God when Love stops chasing, and starts accepting; when love stops controlling, and starts trusting; when love stops holding, and starts releasing
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“She saw the stone removed from the tomb.” The stone is already rolled away before anyone arrives. The Light and Life of the Resurrection is entirely God’s work, not our effort’s by-product. All is God’s Gift. We are transformed because of Grace that precedes belief. Always God acts first; then we respond.
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Our Soul that longs for God is about waiting for His coming because we simply cannot create Grace on our own. And we hear God when we remove the stone that entombs our hearts in numbness, hopelessness, and indifference. We hear God when we begin to allow God to work in us and through us, rather than overextend ourselves, and try to control Life, and save ourselves; We sense God when we feel alive again knowing that we are never the same anymore because our own Resurrection in Christ is always greater than our past self; we remove the heavy stone when we bury the loss by not forgetting, but by blessing.
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The tomb is open. Light has entered the tomb, not fully, but slightly. And still Mary does not understand. “They have taken the Lord…” she says. It truly takes time to understand even when we love Him the way we want to love Him. But to know what is, at least, inside the tomb, it is not enough that we love Him for ourselves because our love for God can only be perfected by allowing God to love us His Way – and not our way. We love God without condition, even without asking God for favors. We love God as God – let God be God. We let Him be God by trusting and surrendering to Him.
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The Resurrection is not a loss of the old. Nothing really is taken away from us. We just change and evolve; transformed and transcended. Even death has no more sting. Death is just a mere door to Life. We just move from death-to-life; from dark-to-light; from old-to-new; from sorrow-to-joy. And this is a continuous cycle until the end. And we know what is the end – the Resurrection. The final Word is not death, but the Love of Risen Christ.
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We remain the same, yet changed – and we know deep within that this truth is not strictly contradictory. It is a PARADOX of the Mystery of the Resurrection that goes deep into our Souls that we can unlock slowly but surely by accepting, trusting, and surrendering to what IS – to what is in front of us – to what is Real and True.
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So, the Beloved Disciple arrives first but allows Peter to enter. Then the Beloved Disciple enters and he SAW AND BELIEVED. He believes without seeing the risen Jesus. This moment is profound – Faith arises from SIGNS, LOVE, AND INTERIOR OPENNESS – signs of “the burial cloths … and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place,“ signs perceived in the eyes of Love that never doubts, that never dies, and the interior openness that dictates the meaning, significance, and value of what is seen from the exterior.
The Beloved Disciple’s was a visceral response to the EMPTY SPACE AND THE FOLDED CLOTHS. He saw the evidence of absence and believed in the presence of a miracle
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These are signs that Jesus did not ‘escape’ death but passed through death in glory.
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Scripture says that “they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” This reveals a key spiritual truth: that FAITH OFTEN BEGINS BEFORE FULL UNDERSTANDING AND SCRIPTURE IS UNDERSTOOD MORE DEEPLY AFTER ENCOUNTERING THE RISEN CHRIST. As they say, “Faith often begins with a question mark before it becomes an exclamation point.”
The disciples are in transition as we all are : from confusion-to sign-to-belief-to full revelation.
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There is a spiritual truth here for all of us: 1] we begin in darkness – like Mary – seeking, loving, but not yet understanding; 2] then we encounter signs in moments of Grace, Silence, Absence [Hidden Presence], and even Emptiness; 3] then we are invited to believe like the beloved disciple to have Faith without seeing fully; 4] then we gain a fuller understanding through Scripture, prayer, and encounter with Christ.
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Let us ask for the Grace of a deeper knowing of the Mystery of the Resurrection: not seeing, yet believing; not feeling, yet loving; not understanding, yet trusting.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, when we stand before what feels empty, teach us to believe. When we do not understand , open our hearts like the beloved disciple. Let us see the quiet signs of Your presence in faith, hope, and love, and trust that You are alive – even in silence. Amen.
Colossians 2:16-3:4
New life in Christ
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must 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, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.
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