Today, we celebrate the truth that Christ is risen! The resurrection of Jesus is God’s definitive victory over sin and Satan, darkness and death. It is our victory insofar as it opens for us the possibility of eternal life and happiness with God. Interestingly, on this day when we celebrate the greatest supernatural event in history, we see in today’s Gospel (John 20:1-9) what seems like only natural evidence of what has happened.

That’s because John’s Gospel, more than the other three gospels, pays particular attention to the empty tomb of Jesus. In the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, we very quickly meet angels who announce that Jesus is risen. Matthew’s account is especially “supernatural.” Matthew reports a “great earthquake” happening and an angel of the Lord descending from heaven.

But at this point in John’s account, we have much more “natural” circumstances. The only people we meet are Mary Magdalene, Peter and John. The only sight we see is the empty tomb with its stone rolled away and with the burial clothes lying where Jesus had been laid to rest on Good Friday. No angels are mentioned, and we do not yet see the risen Jesus Himself, although Mary will meet Jesus just after the point at which this reading ends.

So why does John so heavily emphasize the empty tomb? The answer is not that he got the story wrong, as if he were a rookie newspaper reporter who misspelled the mayor’s name or something. He didn’t just forget about the angels. Rather, each of the Gospel writers, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling the same story in a different way, from a different perspective and with different points of emphasis.

The empty tomb shows us physical evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. Remember that we see no one denying that the tomb is empty. In fact, in Matthew’s Gospel we see the chief priests and elders bribing the guards of Jesus’ tomb to lie about how the tomb became empty. They told the guards to say that Jesus’ disciples stole his Body at night.

First, the empty tomb shows us physical evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. Remember that we see no one denying that the tomb is empty. In fact, in Matthew’s Gospel we see the chief priests and elders bribing the guards of Jesus’ tomb to lie about how the tomb became empty. They told the guards to say that Jesus’ disciples stole his Body at night.

So, everyone was at least in agreement that Jesus was not in the tomb. Even from the perspective of a person who does not yet have faith, this would leave only two possibilities: that Jesus’ Body was stolen, or that He is risen. 

Now, there are only two groups of people who might have stolen his Body: your garden variety grave robbers, who are not interested in Who Jesus is, or those who are interested in the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God, whether they are for or against Him.

As for the grave robbers, it would have been most unusual for anyone at that time to steal a corpse and leave behind the costly burial linens. The opposite was more likely, that they would have taken the linens and left the corpse behind.

That leaves the people who were interested, somehow, in the true identity of Jesus. It is clear those who were opposed to Jesus did not steal His Body. In addition to the evidence in Matthew’s Gospel that they were perplexed at the empty tomb and attempted a “cover-up,” we also know that they never produced the Body later, which they would have been sure to do, in order to disprove the claim that Jesus is risen from the dead.

As for the disciples of Jesus, we have not only the evidence of the Gospels, but also the evidence of their lives to prove that they didn’t steal the Body of Jesus. The Gospels show the disciples’ fear and lack of understanding, until they actually meet the risen Jesus and receive the gift of His Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Surely, if they had been such blatant liars as to steal Jesus’ Body and lie about His resurrection, they would at least have cast themselves in a more positive light.

The example of the apostles’ lives is also persuasive evidence. We see the beginnings of Easter faith in today’s Gospel, when we read that when the other disciple followed Peter into the tomb, “he saw and believed.” But we know that later their faith would be greatly strengthened — they would become so convinced by their encounter with the risen Christ that they left everything behind to do the work Peter talks about in today’s first reading: the work of giving witness to Jesus and of preaching the Gospel. They do this, not only at the cost of what they left behind, but also at the cost of their lives, since 11 of the 12 apostles died as martyrs. Nothing but a real encounter with the risen Lord Jesus could motivate them to do this.

These days, we tend to overuse the word “literally,” perhaps because there is so much exaggeration and sarcasm in the world that we feel the need to show we really mean what we’re saying.

Jesus’ Resurrection is not a fairy tale or just a heartwarming spiritual story Christians tell themselves. It is the truth, a truth as spiritual as the loftiest heights of heaven, and — to borrow an expression from one of my favorite authors — a truth “as practical as potatoes.” Jesus’ dying and rising are real historical events, but they are not just part of history. They transform history and are the climax of all of history.

But the empty tomb gives us clear evidence that Jesus is “literally” risen! Jesus’ Resurrection is not a fairy tale or just a heartwarming spiritual story Christians tell themselves. It is the truth, a truth as spiritual as the loftiest heights of heaven, and — to borrow an expression from one of my favorite authors — a truth “as practical as potatoes.” Jesus’ dying and rising are real historical events, but they are not just part of history. They transform history and are the climax of all of history.

But the Resurrection is also meant to transform our lives. Medicine might be effective in curing illness, but it doesn’t do any good if it remains in the pharmacy. We need to take the medicine if we want to get better.

So it is with the power of Jesus’ resurrection. We can’t just assume that He’s done all the work, and that all we have to do to get to heaven is sit back and wait to die. True, Jesus has done all the work. And in our baptism we have come to share in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. But we need to accept and cooperate with with this gift of salvation continually, and we do this in a life of faith, hope and love. We do this by taking up the crosses of suffering that lie in our path and carrying them with love. 

All of us are carrying a heavy cross during these days of the COVID-19 crisis. But our hope is in the One Who has died and risen from the dead. Jesus has conquered death and gives us the gift of his invincible life.

Finally, we need to do all we can to let others in on this Good News. Even during this time of social distancing — perhaps especially now! — we need to unleash the Gospel with our words and our good example, so that the people around us know Jesus is their God too, and that He died and rose to save them.  

And so this Easter, as with wonder and awe we consider the empty tomb, may we all recognize the truth and power of Jesus’ resurrection. And may we cooperate with God in His work of transforming the lives of all people into perfect images of the risen Christ.