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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