What We Have Seen

Gospel: John 20: 2-8

The week of Christmas is like a ride in a Delorean.  We began at the birth of Jesus, then made our way to the death of the first martyr, and now we find ourselves at the resurrection of Jesus.  This stop is most important because it is reminder that without the event of Jesus' resurrection, his birth among us would have no importance or meaning for us.  Indeed, the birth of Jesus is celebrated because he died and rose again.  Otherwise, he would be just another man who came and went on this earth.

Many people flock to creches and manger scenes in order to see the baby Jesus.  Like the shepherds and Magi, people come to the manger in order to see God among us.  But if we are to make pilgrimage to this sight of God's presence among us, it is equally important to make our way to the empty tomb in order to see the great absence - an absence which manifests God's presence among us in the risen Jesus who appears to us in all sorts of circumstances of our life.

Today's feast is a reminder that Christmas and Easter are essential to each other, that they exist in a symbiotic relationship to one another.  The presence in the manger foreshadows the absence of the tomb, the resurrection gives importance and meaning to the birth.  To rejoice at the manger is to rejoice at the empty tomb.