The Glory of the Resurrection is undeniable (HOMILY FOR EASTER MONDAY APRIL 2023

HOMILY FOR EASTER MONDAY

Acts 2:14, 22-32; Ps.16; Matthew 28:8-15

The Glory of the Resurrection is undeniable

Publicity is key to any business and indeed any event. This is because the patronage of others is important if the establish venture is to be successful. Little wonder some persons and bodies form the habit of televising their charitable acts so that they may create a public image of good and generous. This is not the case with the glory of the resurrection. Whatever is of God does not rest on public opinion.

In the gospel reading of today, the Chief priests bribed the soldiers to lie that Jesus did not resurrect and to rather say that it was the disciples who came to steal the body while they (the soldiers) were asleep. If the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was to be dependent on the publicity of men, then the fake rumour that the soldiers told would have crumbled the resurrection testimony. God did not prevent the soldiers from spreading lies, instead, He proved that it is not man that makes God who He is. The resurrection is not true because men said so; the resurrection is true because it truly happened.

In the gospel reading, a one-time timid Peter, stood up boldly in public and testified to the resurrection. Peter was not acting on his own accord but under the influence of the Holy Spirit. So, through Peter, God was giving glory to His name.

God does not depend on the knowledge of men or the worship of men to be God. Irrespective of how unfaithful and inconsistent man may become, the glory of God keeps radiating.

Beloved, when we live our lives contrary to God’s commandments, we do God no harm. Even when we directly aim at destroying what is Godly, like the soldiers in the first reading, our actions will be as abortive as pouring water on stones. On other hand, should we make ourselves available for God to use, then like Peter, we will experience the grace of God in us discarding and overshadowing our weaknesses.

Christ has risen from the dead. Our way of life is what accepts or rejects this incontestable reality.