The Easter Season
In 1969 the General Norms for the Liturgical Year was approved by Pope Paul VI which implemented the reforms of Vatican II. This is what those norms say about the Easter season:
- The fifty days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday are celebrated in joy and exultation as one feast day, indeed as one “great Sunday.” These are the days above all others in which the Alleluia is sung.
- The Sundays of this time of year are considered to be Sundays of Easter and are called, after Easter Sunday itself, the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. This sacred period of fifty days concludes with Pentecost Sunday.
- The first eight days of Easter Time constitute the Octave of Easter and are celebrated as Solemnities of the Lord.
- On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated, except where, not being observed as a Holy Day of Obligation, it has been assigned to the Seventh Sunday of Easter (cf. no. 7).
- The weekdays from the Ascension up to and including the Saturday before Pentecost prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
In summary, the whole 50 days of Easter is like one long Sunday when we sing Alleluia with all our heart. There are 7 Sundays of Easter (not after Easter), and the season concludes with Pentecost Sunday. The first 8 days of the Easter season are the “Octave of Easter” and all 8 days are celebrated as solemnities. Ascension is celebrated on day 40, although here in the US, most bishops move it to the closest Sunday.
The Easter season is unique in our liturgical calendar: Advent and Lent prepare us for an upcoming solemnity; Easter prolongs the solemnity. The JOY of Easter simply cannot be contained!
The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for the Easter Season
Lent and Easter are a time when we tell our stories – we remind ourselves who we are and where we came from. During Lent that meant going back to the earliest stories of our Jewish roots.
During the Sundays of Easter, we don’t read from the Old Testament at all; rather, we replace that with readings from the book of Acts. We’re still telling our stories – but now it’s the story of the very first Christian communities as well as the spread of the gospel.
In the Easter season, the readings are chosen to complement the overall theme of Easter. They don’t necessarily relate directly to each other, but they all complement each other and relate to the theme of Easter.
The first 3 Sundays of Easter, the Gospel will focus on the resurrection and the 4th Sunday of Easter will always be about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The remaining 3 Sundays will be in John’s Last Supper Discourse and they speak to our participation in the ongoing mission activity of the church.
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Today’s reading is Peter’s very first sermon. The same man who abandoned and then betrayed Jesus today preaches the message ardently. It helps to be familiar with the surrounding story.
Chapter 10 is all about the Roman centurion Cornelius. Cornelius has a vision and the story is careful to say that it’s at the 9th hour of the day. This would have been the time of day when sacrifices were being offered in the Jewish temple. Of course, as a Gentile, Cornelius wouldn’t have been able to be a part of those. But he has this vision and God says he’s heard Cornelius’ prayers and taken note of his way of life: “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.” This language is the same language used for Jewish sacrifice. In other words, the sacrifice Cornelius is not allowed to make at the temple is quite acceptable to God. God tells him to send for a man called Peter.
The next day Peter has a vision and he sees all these foods that are forbidden to Jews, but God tells him “take and eat.” “What God has cleansed you must not call unclean.” And then Cornelius’ messengers show up to get Peter. Peter ends up sharing a meal with Cornelius which completely breaks the Jewish dietary laws.
It’s hard to overstate what a watershed moment this is. A Jew simply did not eat with a Gentile. Think about some things you simply will not do – a boundary beyond which you will not pass. And imagine that boundary is established through intense prayer and discernment – it seems to be what God is asking, demanding of you. Now God seems to invite you to cross the boundary. It’s a conundrum. What do you do?
Can Jews actually eat with Gentiles? Before this episode, Peter would have said that’s crazy, of course we can’t. But it’s a new era. Things changed with Jesus. Now everyone is “in” and God doesn’t show partiality. Every nation, every person is acceptable. All are welcome!
Verse 38 is a reference to Jesus’ baptism which Peter calls his “anointing.” He also says “God was with him” which, in the Old Testament, is an expression that conveys the whole of God’s guidance and protection.
Notice in verse 40 Peter does not try to explain or defend the resurrection. He preaches it as a matter of fact and faith.
Poor Peter! His journey of transformation lays bare for all to see. We see his high-minded idealism as well as his impetuousness time and again. During Holy Week we saw his fall in the courtyard of denial. Here in Acts 10 we see his idealism confronted with God’s realism. He boldly declares to God that he will not eat anything unclean. And then he has to walk into a Gentile’s house and sit down to eat “unclean” food with an “unclean” person. His whole system of values is turned upside down. And because Christ chose him as the leader of the band, he can’t just quietly change his mind. People are watching, taking note. He must get up, take center stage, and preach from his humiliation. His humility.
How often do we remain silent about transforming events in our lives because we realize the depth of the changes and what our current state says about our previous one? How can you embrace the humility of speaking of your own transformation in all its dimensions?
Colossians 3:1-4
The readings for Easter Sunday are the same each year but with options. For this reading, the presider can choose Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8.
Colossians was most likely written by a later disciple in the spirit of Paul. Its purpose was to bolster the faith of the community and correct errors. One commentary called these verses “new life in light of the resurrection” which makes it apt for today’s readings.
Some people might want to interpret this passage as telling us to be wholly “spiritual people.” Be concerned with heaven and getting there and that alone. Don’t worry about the natural world – it’s passing away anyway. Don’t worry about the poor – let them focus on heaven too. Don’t worry about your own health or self-care – that’s selfish in the heavenly realm. These ideas couldn’t be further from the truth.
Verse 1 starts with the word “if.” The Greek grammar here implies fact rather than the uncertainty the English conveys. A better translation would be “because you were raised with Christ.”
Verse 1 also uses the phrase “right hand of God.” Think of this as a “creedal statement” – a phrase that expresses a kernel of truth that is repeated over and over. It comes from Ps 110:1:
The LORD says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
while I make your enemies your footstool.”
Any quotation from the Old Testament would have called to mind the whole passage for Jews who memorized and studied the Old Testament in large chunks. This Psalm is interpreted to refer to the Messiah. For the early church, “right hand of God” was a summary statement that God’s Messianic promises were fulfilled in Christ.
Verse 3 tells us that our life is hidden with God in Christ. The Greek word used here for hidden is “krypto,” meaning “hiding or concealing in a safe place.” The Psalms frequently use the metaphor of God as a hiding place. To be hidden with Christ means to be joined to him. Our lives should reflect such a union.
Like the early Colossians, we live in a curious in-between time. Christ’s work is done and he has taken his place at the right hand of God. But all the conditions for his return have not yet been accomplished, and so we wait, hidden with Christ in God.
In what ways does your life reflect being hidden with Christ in God?
In what ways does verse 2 challenge you – to think of what is above rather than what is below?
John 20:1-9
How do you celebrate the resurrection? I don’t mean about family dinners or going to church or watching kids hunt eggs. Rather, how does your life celebrate and bear witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is risen today?
This reading ends on a note of hesitancy: they saw, at least one “believed,” but they did not understand. This emphasizes how incomprehensible the resurrection was and continues to be. They just couldn’t wrap their minds around it. Even those closest to Jesus struggled with understanding and comprehension. It’s a good lesson for us to not be too glib when we say “Jesus is risen!”
In verse 1, John has Mary coming to the tomb alone. In reality, in that culture, women did not travel unaccompanied, either by a man or by several other women. It’s just not done. Let alone doing it in the dark. John is making a point here about the singularity of Mary’s place in the story.
In verse 2 the author switches to the plural “we.” This reflects the many oral traditions coming together in this gospel. Perhaps Mary’s statement was so embedded in the community psyche that the author doesn’t dare mess with it, even if it leaves the story grammatically incorrect.
Also in verse 2 Mary says “we don’t know where they put him” which could also be translated “we don’t know where he has gone.” Several times in John’s gospel people say they do not know where Jesus is going (13:33-14:5, 16:5).
Most of the verbs in v1-18 are historical present tense. This is used to talk about a past event as though it were happening now but it’s understood to be in the past. John’s gospel uses this literary technique quite frequently but it is usually translated out of the text as being confusing. If we translated verses 1-2 more literally, with the historical present tense in mind, we would get something like:
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb early in the morning, while it’s still dark, and sees the stone removed from the tomb. So she runs to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and tells them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”
The historical present imparts a sense of urgency and immediacy to the story. It puts the reader in the middle of the action. You might try reading this story and putting it all in the historical present tense as you read.
Verse 7 is a curious but crucial detail. Mary reports to the disciples that the body must have been stolen or moved. But this detail is here to say clearly the body had not been stolen: grave robbers would not have taken the time to remove the burial clothes and leave them there, neatly folded up.
In this story, we see Peter and “the other disciple” (usually interpreted as the Beloved disciple) running to the tomb. The other disciple runs faster but allows Peter his primacy in arriving first. Peter sees everything just as the Beloved disciple does but only the Beloved sees and believes. And yet verse 9 tells us that neither of them understood. Belief and understanding are always in tension with one another. To some degree, we have to understand what we believe. And yet, there is a sense in which we will never understand fully what we believe. And yet we believe.
It’s interesting that the Roman Catholic lectionary stops at verse 9. We’re left with two men trying to understand what is happening. Verse 10 will tell us that they simply return home. Verse 11-18 takes us further into the story. Mary Magdala does not return home; she stays at the tomb, weeping. In her persistence, she becomes the first to see the resurrected Lord, and is subsequently commissioned to share the good news. She becomes the “apostle to the apostles.” The Revised Common Lectionary takes us through this part of the story, and rightly so I think. It’s important to remember that not everyone who sees the empty tomb will understand or be able to convey the good news. Not everyone who looks inside the empty tomb will have the patience to encounter the risen Jesus.
The readings today are about newness of life. To what newness is God calling you today?
Questions to ponder
How can you embrace the humility of speaking of your own transformation in all its dimensions?
In what ways does your life reflect being hidden with Christ in God?
In what ways are you challenged to think of what is above rather than what is below?
To what newness is God calling you today?
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
© 2023 Kelly Sollinger