Washington Window: April 2008: Communion

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By The Rev. Simon Bautista Betances
Washington Window
Vol. 77, No. 4, April 2008

Many of us gathered in our respective faith communities on Holy Saturday to proclaim with shouts of joy the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We light our candles from the great light, the Paschal Candle; we hear the Paschal Proclamation, chanted or recited by the celebrant; we listen to the readings and renew our baptismal vows. We were in the context of the Easter Vigil, crying out in loud voice, "Alleluia! The Lord is risen!" But what does the resurrection of Jesus mean for us, and how does in challenge and commit us in our daily life? Let us reflect a little together.

The resurrection of Jesus places not only the Jewish authorities, but also the Roman ones, in a very difficult position, shattering all their schemes. How to keep the news from spreading, that the one they killed as a criminal among criminals, was truly who he said he was: the Messiah, the Son of God, the Redeemer? How to hold back the revolution that this fact would bring to the established order? How to restrain the followers of the crucified one, for whom the empty tomb (John 10:1-18) and the encounter with him on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24:13-33) and on the shore of the Lake of Tiberias clarified and confirmed everything they had witnessed? Imagine for yourselves the political, religious and social chaos which this overwhelming act must have occasioned in the whole region and in the empire itself.

The resurrection of Jesus also presupposed a deep seizing of the conscience of the apostles, revealing to them that from this moment on it was their turn to enter into the action, to carry forth the work, to carry the torch a little further on (Matthew 28:16-20; John 20:21). The "training period" was over, and the time to put into practice all that they had learned, to keep alive the Master's enterprise. What followed indicates that they did indeed understand their mission, and took it up willingly; to see this, we have only to read the Acts of the Apostles with careful attention. Let us take, for instance, Peter's sermon in chapter 2, verses 14 to 40, and the immediate result of his words: "those who took Peter's message to heart were baptized, and that day some three thousand people joined the company of the apostles (Acts 2:41). At the same time, though, a terrible persecution was unleashed against anyone who declared Jesus to be the Lord (Acts 4:1-7, 8:1).

The resurrection of Jesus is a challenge for us in our own time, and in the midst of the reality that surrounds us. Like Peter and his companions, we cannot distance ourselves from the implications of declaring ourselves followers of the Prophet of the dusty roads of Nazareth, of Jericho, or Galilee, or of the other cities, towns and regions that felt the impact of his presence and his preaching of the values of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was raised, it is true, but his resurrection invites everyone who proclaims it to illuminate with its light all the dark corners of the earth where the kingdom of death continues to make itself known, be this at the level of family, institution or society. In this way the words "Alleluia! Christ has risen! The Lord has risen indeed! Alleluia!", which we find on page 355 of the Book of Common Prayer, go from being a proclamation of faith to being an act of faith, and this, my brothers and sisters, makes a world of difference.

Rev. Simón Bautista Betances
Misionero Latino Diocesano

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