April 17, 2017

Gospel: Mt 28:8-15
In fear, yet with great joy, the women left the tomb and ran to tell the news to his disciples.
Suddenly, Jesus met them on the way and said, “Rejoice!” The women approached him, embraced his feet and worshiped him. But Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid! Go and tell my brothers to set out for Galilee; there, they will see me.”
As the women proceeded on their way, some of the guards went into the city, and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests met with the elders, and decided to give the soldiers a large sum of money, with this order, “Say that his disciples came by night while you were asleep, and stole the body of Jesus. If Pilate comes to know of this, we will explain the situation and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers accepted the money and did as they were told. This story has circulated among the Jews until this day.

REFLECTION:
The resurrection of the Lord provoked a lot of emotions. For His followers who first knew of it (the women who went to His tomb) it was fear and joy. It is a combination of the different range of feelings because not one feeling can encapsulate it. There is a renewed spring in their steps. The dark harrowing nights of the passion and death of the Lord is now a thing of the past. Life triumphed from the death-dealing blow of sin and is now standing in front of them. They can share this good news to their brethren so that they too may experience the joy that is theirs that blessed dawn of the first day of the week.
Not so for the soldiers who were caught flat footed at the tremendous energy that burst inside the tomb because of the life that came charging forth from it. They cannot contain that life. They left scampering not knowing what to do and reported the incident to the chief priests. This is a crisis situation. They must use their effective tool again. So the life they took for thirty pieces of silver is once again denied as coming back by some pieces of silver that changed hands.