The Sign and Memory of Victory

2^nd Easter Sunday

27 April 2014

John 20:19-31

“Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe (Jn 20:27).”

Jesus has risen and today's Gospel shows us that He rose with his body. In theology, we learn that Jesus' body is referred to as the “glorious body.” This is a real body but also the body that is not just the usual and ordinary one as we have. Bishop Theodoro Bacani, our professor of Christology at the University of Santo Tomas, taught me that this glorious body no longer subject to the laws of nature, and as such, he is able to pass through walls and enter the locked room where the disciples were gathered. Obviously, this body will no longer endure pain and suffer death. Jesus lives forever with His glorious body.

However, if we carefully look at today’s Gospel, there are unique features of the risen body of Jesus: His body still bears the marks of his crucifixion wounds. If Thomas is able to put his hand in the wounds of Jesus, then the body is not perfect because there is a “defect” on it. But, why did Jesus take the body that is still full of scars, rather a smoother and flawless body instead? Jesus could have chosen a more powerful body with all the curvy muscles and even made his face more handsome than Brad Pitt. Then, why did Jesus still chose to carry the signs of his passion with his resurrection?

Fr. Enrico Gonzales, OP, my professor and mentor, believes that glorious body of Jesus reflects His body on earth, the Church. Our Church is full of injuries for the sins committed by us, but the Church never lost hope of holiness because Jesus is the head. As long as the head is alive and fully divine, the body, though deeply wounded, can hope for a better future. Suffering will disappear and our bodies will become like Him.

Aside from the ecclesiological perspective, we can also reflect on these signs as a true sign of victory, especially in memory of our perseverance and resilience in times of trial. Yes, Jesus has risen and won for us salvation, but the gift of this redemption, free it may be, does not come cheap. Jesus had to undergo suffering and death before resurrection. He was betrayed by the lips of his disciples, abandoned by close friends, and denied by His trusted man. He suffered cruel torture and eventually died as a criminal. Yet, through all of this, He would endure with patience and he embraced in compassion. The wounds on His body are signs and memories of a victory of peace over violence, of a forgiveness over revenge and of a life over death.

Let us look back on our lives and reflect on the wounds in our hearts. Do we still feel the pain? Are the memories of the past still carry anger and hatred? Are we able to forgive and heal old wounds? Now, in this Easter, let us invoke the power of God to renew our lives. And through the power of the risen Lord, let us transform our wounds from a sign of defeat into victory.

Brother Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno , OP