Seeing the Empty Tomb

Easter Sunday

March 27, 2016

John 20:1-9

“Then the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed (John 20:8).”

What do you see inside the empty tomb? Seeing the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene was at lost, terrified and confused. Where is Jesus? Is He moved to the other tomb? Is someone stealing His Body? Peter, the leader of the apostles, did not understand the empty tomb and went home puzzled. All things were so depressing. Jesus was betrayed, denied, tortured, crucified and now he is missing!     

Once he was a charismatic preacher, but then, he was dead. Once he was an inspirational leader, but then he was buried. Once he was welcome as a king and Messiah, then He was crucified by the people who welcome Him. Even the tomb where his body rested, was not spared from this cruelty. All expectations were shattered, all dreams were put off, and it was just empty and dark, just like the empty tomb.

When everything seems so absurd and hopeless, one disciple did not give up. He was the disciple who loved Jesus and whom Jesus loved. Indeed, love turns to be the game changer. Only the eyes of love can pierce through the darkest empty tomb and see a deepest meaning of it. In love, Jesus was not lost, and not even dead. He is fully alive, present and vibrant. Easter is our celebration of faith that drives away meaninglessness, hope that prevails over despair. And all of this, only possible when there is love that conquers all. As St. Paul would say, “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Cor 13:13).”

Easter is the time for us to learn to see what the beloved sees, to see through the eyes of love. As the beloved sees the risen Lord at the empty tomb, we shall see the resurrected Christ as well in this emptiness of life. With the eyes of love, a mother will not see a baby in her womb just as an intruder or burden, but life that holds bright future. With the eyes of love, a wife will not see her aging and sickly husband as mistake, but a living brave soul who dedicated his life for her, despite so many imperfections. 

In 2006, after Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe, won the election, he decreed operation Murambatsvina, “the cleaning out of the rubbish”. He ordered the demolition of the houses of those people who refused to vote for him during the election. More than 700,000 people watched their home bulldozed. They became refugees in their homeland and begun their life again out of the rubbles of their home. At the heart of this place of refuge, was a small plastic tent, called ‘the young Generation pre-school’. This was a home of a young woman called Evelyn, and she used it as a school in the day. There were around a dozen of her students under the age of eight, nearly all HIV-positive and with TB. Sometimes there was food to eat, but usually, there was none. Yet, Evelyn never gave up taking care of the children and even the children sang welcome songs happily every time guests would visit them. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP once visited her and seeing her condition, he asked her why she did that. She just had one simple reason that she loved the children so much and indeed found meaning and joy in what she was doing.

Easter is the time when Jesus resurrects, defeats death, renews our broken humanity and disfigured world. And all begins at the empty tomb. The question now is: What do you see in the empty tomb?

Happy Easter!

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Jesus and the Woman

Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 13, 2016

John 8:1-11

“The woman replied, ‘No one, sir.’”

In time of Jesus, women were not standing at the same level with men. Crudely speaking, women were considered to be the property of men. Except for several outstanding female figures in the Bible like Deborah, the judge, and Judith, the warrior, the ancient Jewish women had to live under the patriarchal domination. The Bible is not loud at the stories of abused and battered women, but we can safely assume that the exploitations took place here and there. 

Our today’s Gospel is rarely seen as the story of woman being exploited by the some group of Jewish and religious male, but this was what really happening. The Book of Leviticus has regulated that both the male and female adulterers shall be put to death (Lev 20:10), but the Pharisees only forcefully brought the woman. Their goal was crystal-clear: to trap Jesus, and the rest were means to it, including if they had to use and stone the woman. Here lies the fundamental reason why women always turn to be victims of abuses and violence: the objectification and depersonalization of women. The adulterous woman lost her personhood and became a tool of the Pharisees in achieving their objective. I guess the same underlying motive influence men of different generations. Heartless men change women into their sex objects, cheap labors, or step stone to success. 

Jesus got to stop this. Not only He need to save the woman victim, but he had to challenge the corrupt mentality of male abusive domination. He then wrote on the ground. Now, this has been subject of debate and discussion for centuries, and nobody really knew what Jesus wrote. My wild imagination would tell me that he wrote, “Guys, where is the adulterous man?” Jesus read their evil intention not only to Him about to the lady. They were planning for the death for both Jesus and the woman, and the Law says that the murderers and those who pre-meditated on murder shall be put to the death (Lev 21:14). Surely, killing is graver evil than adultery.  When Jesus said, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” Jesus exposed their malicious motivation to kill Him and the woman. The scribes and the Pharisees also deserved death and they should throw the stone to themselves. Losing the battle, they left Jesus and the woman.

Yet, the story does not end there. Jesus had one more mission. After being objectified and depersonalized by her sin and the violent men, Jesus restored her dignity by giving back her voice. Jesus did not unveil her name, but Jesus allowed her to speak for her own. She answered Jesus, “No one, sir.” Indeed, no men shall make her a mere object and no one shall degrade her anymore. She is the beautiful daughter of God and she will remain to be so.

We are living two millennia after Jesus, yet a lot of women still fall victim to this objectification and depersonalization effort of the Evil one. As Jesus fought for the woman, we shall to fight for the women around us. If Jesus was able to expose the subtle form of woman’s exploitation, we shall too expose the various forms of abuses around us. If Jesus restored the dignity of the woman, we shall too respect the dignity of woman around us.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP