Doubts and Fears Transformed

Homily for Saturday in the Octave of Easter

The original ending of the Gospel of St. Mark was rather abrupt. The final verse states, “Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

What we hear in today’s Gospel text has been called “the longer ending.” Obviously, the Gospel could not have ended with the silence of the women who had come to the tomb. We can also say that if there is a longer ending, there must have been a shorter ending.  The longer ending is actually a recapitulation of the stories that appear in the Gospels of St. Matthew and Saint Luke and Saint John.

We have drawn near to the end of the Octave of Easter. There is one more story to be told from the Gospel of St. John. The octave will conclude tomorrow with this last story of the appearances of Jesus after the resurrection.

Though each of the Gospels includes various details and even some conflicting narratives, there is one thing that is obviously present in each of them; namely, the resurrection of Jesus brought about fear, trembling, and bewilderment. The apostles and disciples of Jesus were slow to believe. However, even though Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith, he doesn’t dismiss them. Instead, he commissions them to spread the Gospel message to the whole world.

Why does Jesus choose to work through doubting and faithless messengers? He uses the weaknesses and doubts of these men and women in order to make us rely more on him than upon ourselves. The failures to believe remind us that we can do nothing by ourselves; we can be witnesses to Christ only through his power and his strength.

Just as the bread and wine of our Eucharist is transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, the doubts and fears of the disciples are transformed through the intimate encounters with the risen Lord Jesus. If we wish to reap the precious fruits of the resurrection, we must engage consciously with him by the prayers of our hearts, especially when we receive him in communion.