“Resurrection is the only hope for the entire world”

2021 Easter Sermon from Jerusalem

John 20: 1-18

Bishop Dr. Munib Younan

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This day seems brighter than others to me. The stars and all elements rejoice. At the death of Christ they had ceased to shed their light and had gone into hiding. They could not look on their Creator crucified. But now that this is His day of victory after His resurrection from the dead, they perform their proper task, attending upon Him by their own brightness.”

So writes St. Jerome in his sermon on the day of the resurrection, proclaiming that Christ’s resurrection is the beginning of hope—not just for a few, but for the world, including the stars and all the elements.

In the Gospel of John chapter 20, verses 1-18, Mary Magdalene along with the two disciples, Peter and John, visit the tomb of Christ. They compete to go inside the tomb one by one, and do not find the dead Christ but find the strips of linen and the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. After seeing the empty tomb, fear possesses them, so the disciples go to lock themselves in a home at the end of the day.

Mary Magdalene alone remains outside the tomb and weeps. Her heart is heavy. While she was crying, she bends to look inside the tomb and sees two angels sitting where the body had lain. When the angels ask “Woman, why are you weeping?”, she responded, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him!” She turned, and there she saw Jesus. He asked, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She said, “Please, tell me where he is.” It seems, in the depths of her grief, she could not recognize the voice of the one she loved so much.

But Jesus understood well the tears of the Mary Magdalene, who was mourning the loss of a dear one. Jesus himself wept when his good friend Lazarus passed away. Jesus knows the pain of losing a loved one. Although Jesus was already resurrected, he still bore the marks of his violent death. He knows the brutal force of injustice, oppression, and death as he experienced them on the cross.

Now, the living Jesus sees Mary Magdalene weeping. The Risen Christ calls her by name: “Mary.” Only at this moment does she recognize her friend and teacher, Jesus.

Some would ask: “Why did Mary stay at the empty tomb when the other disciples left?” Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, scientist, and apologist for the Christian faith answers: “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.” It is the heart which expresses God. This, then, is faith. God is felt by the heart, not by reason.

This is also true for Mary Magdalene. Her heart informed her that a miraculous event was around the corner. She stayed because she possessed a living faith. She was indebted to Jesus for healing her. The Gospel text tells us that as an expression of her gratitude, in a deeply patriarchal society, she poured a bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. Her love for him knew no bounds.

So on the day of resurrection, it was not reason but love that kept her at the tomb. And because she stayed, because her love kept her there, she became the first apostle of the love and light of the resurrection. The Risen Christ called her by name---“Mary!” and then her love was confirmed by faith.

On the day of resurrection, Mary became the apostle of love, the proclaimer of faith and the disciple of hope. By boldly proclaiming the resurrection to the disciples, she changed the hopeless world to a world of hope.

Today, my question is:

How are we reflecting authentic love, living faith and solid hope, as Mary Magdalene did when she proclaimed the resurrection? What are we doing to share the love of Jesus even in these times, which often seem unbearable?

I wonder: Maybe in these very difficult times, Mary Magdalene can become a role model for us. She can teach us that in the midst of deep pain and running tears, the Risen Christ is with us. God is still at work in this broken world. Now is the time for us to share our hope with the world, as we join Mary Magdalene in saying, “We have seen the Lord!”

Hope for the sick

One year into this COVID-19 crisis, so many of our loved ones have been sick or hospitalized. There has been so much grieving, there have been so many losses, so many tears. Unfortunately, like Mary, we know what it means to stand at the tomb and fear even greater losses. What more can be lost? And yet we know more suffering is possible. I imagine that even when she first saw and recognized the Risen Christ, Mary must have been afraid. I imagine she was thinking: Could it really be true? Could this hope be real?

Thanks be to God, now we have received the incredible gift of COVID vaccines, created in record time due to the hard work of many scientists. And yet, even as we receive them, we also may be wondering: Can it really be true? Is this hope real?

Unfortunately, for our sisters and brothers in many countries across the world, this hope is not yet real. Some leaders have taken nationalistic approaches, ensuring the vaccine only for their own citizens. This selfish attitude helps no one. Do we really think the virus respects borders, nations, or ethnic identities?

Thankfully, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank are finding ways to ensure access to vaccines for less advantaged countries, through the COVAX initiative. It is a crime against humanity to hoard vaccines, or to accept that those in the global South or those with few resources will be the last to receive this life-saving injection. COVID-19 knows neither north nor south, neither east nor west, neither American nor African, neither Palestinian nor Israeli, neither European nor Asian. Therefore, we must be united in the effort to eradicate it from the planet, for the good of us all.

The Director General of the WHO, Dr. Tedro, always says, “I am not safe until all are safe.” If we call ourselves people of hope and of resurrection, then we must respond to the Risen Christ’s call to bring Good News to every one of our neighbors. With Mary Magdalene, we must say “We have seen the Lord!” and then ensure that all can experience hope, health, and new life.

Hope for women

Mary Magdalene—a woman—was the first to proclaim the resurrection. Jesus called her by name, and called her friend, making her an excellent role model for the church as we seek gender justice in our institutions and our societies. As an Arab Palestinian Christian, it is important to acknowledge that gender justice is not a Western concept. It was and is an important part of this culture, especially seen in that moment when the Risen Christ commissioned Mary as the very first apostle of the Gospel. For us today, this means we must be bold apostles of the same love that was revealed on that Easter morning.

We must proclaim that all genders have equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities in this world.

The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guetteres has said, “The lives of women are perhaps the one of the most accurate barometers of the health of the society as a whole. How society treats half of its population is a significant indicator of how it will treat others. Our rights are inextricably bound.” Ms. Mahnaz Afkhami, the former president of Women’s Learning Partnership and a leading proponent of women’s rights in the Islamic world, wrote, “Women’s status in society becomes the standard by which to measure our progress toward civility and peace. The connection between women’s rights, gender equality, socioeconomic development and peace is increasingly apparent.” (from Collopy, ed., Architects of Peace.) It is only the community of hope that dares to implement the hope of gender justice in our societies and churches.

Hope for Christians in the Middle East

Recently, I have followed the historical visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Iraq. The charisma of Pope Francis has given a prophetic vision of forgiveness, healing and hope for a country facing numerous challenges. I congratulate Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako, the Patriarch of the Babylon Chaldean Church head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, for a timely and well-planned visit. Cardinal Sako insists that this visit was intended as an encouragement to all Christians in the Middle East. The visit of His Holiness to Iraq has highlighted the role of Arab and Middle East Christians, which has largely been ignored by many world politicians.

The president of Iraq, Mr. Barham Salih, said, “I cannot imagine a Middle East without Christians.” This visit has provoked the media to talk about the emigration of Christians. Arab and Middle East Christians have been here for two thousand years. They are an integral part of the fabric of their Arab societies. Yes, we may be few in number, but we consider ourselves that Jesus Christ taught us to be salt in our various societies. We are the guarantee of building a modern civil society that respects human rights, gender justice, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom of expression. However, we Christians in the Middle East do not want only to survive but to thrive in our motherlands. The future of Christianity is not in wars, occupation, political turmoil, violence, terror, or religious extremism. Our Christian brothers and sisters are emigrating against their will. For this reason, the pope’s visit reminded world politicians that peace based on justice is in dire need in the whole Middle East. Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and other countries are struggling mightily. World powers must not seek their own narrow interests but rather justice and only justice, which will ensure the flourishing of all people everywhere. Nations must reconsider their policies toward Arab Christians.

As a Palestinian refugee, of course I must say once more that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict must be solved on the basis of international law: the 2-state solution, based on 1967 borders, with a shared Jerusalem for the two nations and three religions. Justice and equal citizenship that respects diversity are the only options for us. Only this will keep the Arab and Middle East Christians in their homelands. As a community of hope, we must insist on continuing to pursue this hope, and to make it a reality.

Hope for all people

At this moment in the Holy Land the various communities are honoring Pesach, Holy Week and Easter, and the beginning of Ramadan, all within a few short weeks. Each of these holidays are to be a time of soul-searching and repentance. It is time for all to pray to the one God, and to ask ourselves: Have we been seeking and working for liberation for all, or just for ourselves? Which of our neighbors are still waiting at the tomb, without hope? How can we overcome incitement, hatred, and animosity?

If, like Mary Magdalene, we have seen the Lord, then it is our responsibility to join her in proclaiming that same Good News of life, health, equality, and liberation to others. The news of the Risen Christ is not a treasure for us to hoard, but a gift to offer the entire world. For this reason, Resurrection is our only hope in this world!

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!