(Mt 28:8-15)
The Gospels do not offer entirely reconcilable chronicle data about the unfolding of events after the discovery of the «empty tomb», but the Message of those traces (of the first events) is self-evident.
No mausoleum, no relics... but rather the ability to see the graves open - and to guess life amidst footsteps of death: dangerous Truth.
Hence the unleashing of engaging enthusiasm.
Two processions depart from the empty crypt: sounding Messengers of unheard-of life, though uncredited, and sepulcher guards:
Welcoming aimed at witnessing, and rejection of those who do not read the meaning-filled 'sign'.
The gendarmes of the ancient world go from pit to pit; dragging behind them the same burial chamber.
In fact, to the priests they announce the empty vault as if it were a factual little story, controllable, of mere chronicle (v.11) that then turns to rumor, to legend (v.15).
By the time Mt writes there were already fervent discussions between Jews and Christian converts from Judaism.
Believers felt fulfilled in Christ - in this way also able to spread this Word-event.
Disputes were heated: the Gospel passage places us in a reality that dragged on throughout most of the first century.
As time went on - even before the separation from the institutional synagogue - the very existence of the fraternities, their lifestyle and witness, became a denunciation against the authoritarian spirit, greed, teaching and roles of religious leaders (e.g., Acts 3:1-8).
Amidst a thousand upheavals, the new world was beginning - heralded with high forehead.
The waiting was over: one just had to be convinced of reality - no more dreaming of a future that while proceeding would return to the past, or adhere to conformity and self-interest.
Mt's beginning and ending recall each other.
Jesus is the Immanu-'El of the ancient Scriptures: God-With-us. The hope of the outcasts from the round, and of wavering ones - always given over to the mercy of others, enslaved, and subjugated.
A radical change was expected in the unlivable situation of injustice and social collapse, spiritually dull and habitual - endured by the wretched in the humiliation of the whole being.
By getting busy in the Announcement, Women do not stumble upon a packaged Christ, to be impersonally conveyed.
It’s in their going the Way that a new Spirit is kindled - with the contagious jubilation of Exodus.
The Encounter with God's world becomes a decisive event because all (first without-voice) receive a fervent invitation to the preaching and living of the Beatitudes [the Mount of Galilee, v.10: the "periphery" of life resuming its normal activity; land of Jesus' ministry and disciples' following].
Now as limpid, complete and pure protagonists to whom the Mystery does not resist.
In short, for us: if someone does not take the field but shuns, does not transmit, or considers neutral the News of the victory of life over death, it is in danger of becoming a humbug, nonsense.
Instead, now it is the Risen One who comes to meet the revived ones (v.9) - just as he had done with the one born blind (Jn 9:35).
We are no longer the excommunicated, or prolongers of the tombs’ world, nor the merely awakened.
We are those who convey impetus, verve, character, a sense of fullness and Mystery that saves - heralds of open contradiction.
Progeny springing not from the grave, but from God's world - the source of indestructible being, in which we finally stand firm.
«Rejoice!» (v.9).
In community, cheerfulness for the sense of personal esteem and relational depth related to the new pattern of life overcomes fears.
The first realities of communion [the «Women»] make their own the same Path of the Master [clasping and worshiping his «Feet»].
A conscious and autonomous proposal arises.
The Announcement of a startling experience is born: in the Living One we are ourselves, and the Gift of self - whatever it may be, even previously despised - produces personal completeness and coexistence.
He who spends what he authentically is, values his story: he does not waste existence, but recovers, realizes and sublimates it.
New people flourish, inwardly reborn and no longer left to their own devices.
Seeing far ahead and proceeding in the same 'footsteps' as the Lord, all the unsteady ones overcame the sense of unworthiness inculcated by ancient religion.
Aware of esteem, personal quality, and other resources, the early believers immediately demonstrated a marked aptitude for frankness.
Even the little ones gained courage - recovering the opposite sides of themselves. And no longer suffocated by fears of bogus authority, capable only of retaliation.
Obviously the ancient world wanted to perpetuate itself, and defended itself with pirouettes and lies. As still today, by handing out favours (vv.12-15).
To internalize and live the message:
What inner and outer powers accentuate the disturbances and fight your ability to proclaim the Good News?
Angel of Counsel and ministers of Christ
However the Angel of the Resurrection also calls to mind another meaning. Indeed, we must remember that as well as describing Angels, spiritual creatures endowed with intelligence and a will, servants and messengers of God, the term "Angel" is also one of the most ancient titles attributed to Jesus himself. We read, for example, in Tertullian: "He", that is, Christ, "was also the «Angel of counsel», that is, a herald, a term that denotes an office rather than a nature. Effectively he was to proclaim to the world the Father's great plan for the restoration of man" (cf. De Carne Christi, 14). This is what the ancient Christian writer said. Jesus Christ, the Son of God was therefore also called the "Angel of God the Father": he is the Messenger par excellence of God's love. Dear friends, let us now consider what the Risen Jesus said to the Apostles: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (Jn 20: 21); and he communicated his Holy Spirit to them. This means that just as Jesus was the herald of God the Father's love, we too must be heralds of Christ's charity: let us be messengers of his Resurrection, of his victory over evil and death, heralds of his divine love.
By our nature, of course, we remain men and women, but we have received the mission of "Angels", messengers of Christ.
(Pope Benedict, Regina Coeli, April 5, 2010)
[Easter Monday, April 21, 2025]
