March 31, 2013
There's a fascinating detail in
John's account of Jesus' resurrection regarding the burial cloths of Jesus.
The evangelist makes a point of
where Peter and the other disciple find the wrappings.
The shroud and cloths in which
Jesus' body was wrapped and bound are found on the ground;
the cloth that covered Jesus'
face was rolled up separately.
It seems very deliberate,
planned.
Whatever Mary and Peter and the
disciples saw Jesus wearing in his appearances on Easter morning and evening
gave no indication of his excruciating passion;
his Easter garb was not the
shroud of the dead.
Jesus left the bindings of death
behind.
Forever.
On this Easter morning, many of
us are wearing new Easter clothes, as well -
new shoes, new dresses, new
suits, new ties, new sweaters, new slacks.
After a long winter, we are
finally able to leave the old dark colors of winter behind and put on the
colors of the long awaited spring.
The custom of wearing new outfits
at Easter originated with the early Church.
When the newly-baptized emerged
from the pool of water at the Easter Vigil,
they were dressed in new white
robes as a sign of their "putting on Christ."
They left behind their old lives
in the baptismal waters,
emerging from the pool re-born
into the life of the Risen Christ.
Even the Christians who had been
baptized in previous years dressed in new clothes at
Easter to indicate that they, too, were reborn through the penance and prayer
of Lent.
So the new outfit you are wearing
today is part of a custom dating back to that first Easter morning:
your new clothes are nothing less
than a profession of the faith in the resurrection of Christ.
Our new Easter finery
notwithstanding, we do live our lives as if wrapped and bound in burial cloths
-
shrouds that we spin for
ourselves out of our fears, our doubts, our prejudices, our narrow-mindedness.
We cling to the safe wrappings
and things of the "dead,"
afraid or intimidated to
"live" the life of God;
we can't seem to put aside the
things of the "dead" to take up, instead, the things of God.
Easter, however, calls us to
newness:
a newness of attitude, of
perspective, of spirit.
The grace and hope of the Risen
Jesus enables us to put aside the shrouds of fear and distrust that cover us,
to walk out of the tombs of
vengeance and anger that imprison us.
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