EMPTY TOMBS...

It is very disconcerting to celebrate Easter Sunday apart from the horrors of the Friday before it, but many people find nothing problematic about this. The crucifix has become a fashion accessory for a lot of folks. They can do their Easter egg hunts, play with Easter Bunnies, enjoy their Easter sunrise services, and preach about a risen, triumphant Lord without any thought that the God we proclaim as risen was actually murdered on Calvary. Jesus of Nazareth did not just die; he was murdered by the empire.

He was illegally arrested late night Thursday, then tortured, beaten, stripped naked, brutalized, flogged, and crucified by morning of Friday. He was a victim of state-sanctioned terrorism. We who call ourselves Christian actually follow an executed God.

Over 6 million of our sisters and brothers have died from COVID-19. Most of them were defenseless against the virus, ravaged by the systemic violence of poverty, hunger, and the inequitable distribution of the world's wealth. Every day in our beloved country, in Myanmar, in Palestine, in Ukraine, in many parts of Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the rest of the world, people are being crucified, victims of institutionalized oppression—cultural genocide, racism, gender injustice, capital punishment, global capitalism, extra-judicial killings, red-tagging, militarization, and marginalization. Every single day so many of our sisters and brothers are killed, like Jesus, and they do not even get a burial: their bodies withheld by their killers. Tragically, more often than not, friends and family face the painful reality that their beloved are desaparecidos. There are no bodies to bury. There are no bodies to mourn over. There are only empty tombs, empty caskets, and empty urns! No closure...

And this is why, my friends, we are called "Resurrection People." This is why New Testament scholars tell us that the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday took longer than 24 hours. Much, much longer.

How do we move forward in the midst of death from every side? How do we make sense of life in the midst of evil, despair, fear, and indifference all around us? How do we deal with the horrors of crucifixion?

We proclaim resurrection!

To proclaim resurrection is to continue living: believing that goodness will always conquer evil; that hope is stronger than despair; that faith will always triumph over fear; that love is more powerful than indifference; and that life will always, always, conquer death!

#IAmWithJesus
#FreeAldeemYanez
#JusticeForNewBataan5
#JusticeForMyanmar
#FreePalestine
#StopTheKillingsPH
#NoToMarcosDuterte2022