They Did Not Yet Understand: Reflections on the Readings for The Resurrection of the Lord the Mass of Easter Day

If you haven’t already read the readings you can find them here.

Acts 10:34a. 37-43
Psalm 118
Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
Sequence: Praise the Paschal Victim
John 20:1-9 or Matthew 28:1-10 or Luke 24:13-35

ALLELUIA, HE IS RISEN!

The Gloria is back! For those who have missed singing praise to God, the Gloria is back. Lent and Advent are two times during the Liturgical Year that we don’t sing the Gloria, partly due to the penitential aspects of those seasons. It’s part of the joy of encountering Jesus in the Mass and so we welcome its return.

Easter is a time of conversion. At the vigil Mass we welcome new members into the Church. The first reading is also a story of conversion. To understand this we need to look at the verses prior to that selected. The scene is the house of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who was God-fearing and gave alms liberally to the people. An angel comes to him in a vision telling him to send to Joppa for Peter. Similarly, Peter gets a vision telling him to meet with the men Cornelius sent. Most people identify St. Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles, and so he was, but the first Gentile conversion was this conversion of Cornelius and his household by Peter.

In a few sentences, Peter recounts the life, preaching, death and Resurrection of the Lord. He notes that Jesus, after rising from the dead, had commissioned them to preach the good news, “that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” Immediately following Peter’s speech, Cornelius and his whole household get baptized.

The responsorial says it all about this day, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. ... it is wonderful in our eyes.” It is from one of the Hallel psalms of praise from which we get the word “Hallelujah.”

There are two choices for the second reading. The first possibility from Paul’s letter to the Colossians urges us to seek what is above where Christ is. In other words, turn away from worldly things and seek the things of God. If we are joined to Christ, we will be raised with Him in glory.

The other choice, from the first letter to the Corinthians is telling us that we should be leaven to the world, influencing it in a positive way, bringing it closer to Jesus. As such, we are to make things new, getting rid of the old leaven of malice and wickedness, and spreading the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which posts the mass readings, shows three possible choices for the gospels for the Mass of Easter Day. In a nutshell they are John’s description of Mary Magdala discovering the empty tomb, Matthew’s description of the same event with the aid of an angel to roll back the stone, and Luke’s story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus encountering Jesus.

Each has great significance in its own right, but taken together in light of the descriptions of the Last Supper and the events of chapter 6 of John’s gospel, they tell us of the beginnings of the Mass. And, at the Last Supper, which as part of Passover was already a perpetual institution, Jesus ordained the apostles to “do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19) As we see throughout Scripture, seldom can events be taken in isolation, there are too many interconnections. For, in reality, the Bible is not a collection of 73 books, but one book, one story, with 73 interweaving chapters.

Some try to say that the Mass was an invention by Christians in the fourth century. However, these examples from Scripture show that the Mass was prescribed by Jesus, and the first Mass after the Resurrection occurred on the Road to Emmaus.

Furthermore, as noted in the letter of St. Justin, Martyr, to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) in about 155 A.D., the Mass Christians celebrated at that time contains the same elements as the Mass we celebrate today. (See Catechism of the Catholic Church – CCC 1345)

“For both Jews and Christians Sacred Scripture is an essential part of their respective liturgies.” (CCC 1096) At the Last Supper Jesus and the apostles recounted the Exodus as described in Scripture, they sang psalms and explained their meaning. Jesus had tried to explain the meanings of the prophesies relating to Him throughout His time with the apostles. But even at the Last Supper in the interchange with Philip concerning His oneness with the Father, Jesus says, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?” And in today’s telling of the empty tomb we have St. John telling us, “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”

The fact that none of disciples went to the tomb at the first opportunity also implies that they did not yet understand that Jesus would rise from the dead despite His repeatedly telling them so and even with the example of raising Lazarus.

Fulton Sheen, in his seminal work, Life of Christ, points out that the chief priests and pharisees placed a guard on the tomb as they wanted to prevent the body being stolen which could be claimed as a resurrection. (Matthew 27:62-66) The Lord’s enemies believed what He had said about “rebuilding the Temple” (of His body) and tried to guard against it while His friends and followers were the skeptics.

On the Road to Emmaus, we again see the two aspects of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Although they did not recognize Him at first, Jesus comes upon the two disciples traveling to Emmaus on the morning of the first day of the week (Sunday). They are lamenting Jesus’ crucifixion, “we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.” Then they recounted that some women of their group found the tomb empty and an angel told them He was alive. Then Jesus remarked that they were slow of heart to believe the prophets. Then He “interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures.” Finally, as they were stopping for the day they asked Him to stay with them. And when He blessed the bread and broke it their eyes were opened, they recognized Him, but He vanished from their sight. The implication is that He remained with them in the bread, the Eucharist.

Finally, we get another sense of the Mass in the Acts of the Apostles: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42). The disciples worshipped in the temple (Liturgy of the Word) and broke bread communally in their homes (Liturgy of the Eucharist).

And so we can see that, at its core, the Mass is biblical. Furthermore, with some closer examination, we see that “... the entire Mass is saturated with biblical references.” (A Biblical Walk Through the Mass)

While you will only hear one set of readings in your parish, the many options taken together (and available on the USCCB website) tell the bigger story. And while St. John’s gospel is my favorite (especially chapter 6) Luke’s telling of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is probably my favorite Resurrection story, especially in light of its obvious connection to the Mass.