(By Bishop Renato Abibico)
Easter Sunday, the day that Jesus resurrected from the dead, is of great significance to the life of the Christian Church. Hence, it is dubbed the queen of all Church feasts. Journeying in faith with Jesus during this Holy Week as he went through his passion, crucifixion, and death, several events that somehow can be construed as signs that the Church which Jesus founded was about to crumble. Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Peter denied Jesus three times, the same people who acclaimed him King of the Jews on Palm Sunday are the same people who cried crucify him, crucify him, and ultimately only a handful of his disciples, mostly women, were there at the crucifixion site. Thus, the resurrection is a living testimony and a saving grace that affirmed once and for all, the absolute truth of what Jesus said when he found his Church saying; “Upon this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. (Matt. 16:18)
Furthermore, the resurrection event likewise affirmed once and for all the truth about the Divinity of Jesus. Thomas when confronted with the Risen Jesus confessed unequivocally, “MY LORD AND MY GOD”. (John 20:28) Without the resurrection event, Jesus would have been simply regarded as one of the great prophets of the Bible or one of those famous men and women who walked this planet with exemplary achievements but never was considered a God. His resurrection from the dead is a proof that the Gospel values that he preached, his healing and teaching ministry, and the miracles that he did which are unmistakably of God were not all swallowed up by the brutality of the cross and death itself but remain to be living testaments to his Godship.. And so as St Paul would have said it, “ if there is no resurrection from the dead then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ is not raised, then our preaching is in vain, and so is your faith.” (I Cor. 15: 13-14)
But to those who wanted to suppress the truth about the resurrection, the Easter event was a moment of disgrace. This is the politics of Easter Sunday whose corpus is about the clash of truth and falsehood, of Divine truth versus human power. In the account of St. Matthew’s Gospel, we remember that after Jesus was laid in the tomb, the Chief Priests and Pharisees, went to Pilate and said, “ Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘I will be raised to life three days later.’ Give orders then for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from the dead…so they left and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and leaving the guards to watch.” (Matt. 27: 63-66)
After the resurrection, the same Chief Priests, “gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, “you are to say that his disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep….the guards took the money and did what they were told to do. And so that is the report spread around by the Jews to this very day (Matt. 28:12-15)
Aren’t these narratives proofs that those who are adversely affected by the truth shall do all in their power through clout, influence and bribery to suppress it? And that while, this drama happened more than 2000 years ago its reality and implication are glaring and naked truth to this day. People who have the wealth, fame and clout can use all their resources to twist and suppress the truth by fabricating and peddling lies, while there are those whose souls are sold who can still afford to lie even under oath. Yet, the resurrection event is an ultimate seal to the truth that no human power can ever prevent the rising of Jesus from the dead, or the blossoming of truth because truth is of God.
It must be a saving grace that the Easter event happens at this time in our history as a nation where the clash of truth and falsehood has reached the peak of its ugliest image, shape and form because of the election in May 2022. Trolls, blogs, titktoks and political bandwagons not only emerged in abundance but are loaded with fabricated and ugly lies, fake news, and disinformation as clear proofs that truth has become very fragile and vulnerable.
For one, this scenario can only be interpreted as signs that our electoral process has plunged to its lowest and cheapest level. While it is also a clear indication that there are still people who can afford to betray their conscience and find themselves in the comfort of fabricating and peddling lies and falsehoods. How tragic would it be that victory in this electoral process is the result of lies and falsehoods. It puts this nation that claims to be predominantly Christian in utter shame. But then the reality of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead tells us in no uncertain terms that evil cannot prevail against good, falsehood cannot prevail against truth and darkness cannot prevail against light. Hence, as the Easter event breathes new life to a world that has become hopeless because of the tragedies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday so may it also breathe to us new hope for a better world. “For anyone who is in Christ, is a new creation.” (2nd Cor. 5:17)
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