“If I do not see him, I will not believe, said Thomas.” (John 20,25). Well said, Thomas. Seeing is believing. We can identify with Thomas.
Yet how is it that on entering an empty tomb, Peter and the disciple with him, the one Jesus loved, saw and believed? How can a tomb that is empty be a cause of belief? Can the absence of Jesus be a source of energy, joy and love?
Much of what we see and hear today makes belief unimaginable – the sheer suffering of many and the cruelty and heartlessness of others. We sense our own impulses to selfishness, and we witness the denial, inanity and callousness of those with responsibility. In our world today, God appears to hide himself. Can he be doing this deliberately? Is there really no trace of him to be found? Can an empty tomb say anything to us?
When the risen Jesus came to visit his disciples, they did not at first recognize him. Only when they catch on to the new way in which he is present to them, yet hiding himself, do they find joy and an extraordinary new energy. Why did the consternation of Mary Magdalene turn to joy when the one she first thought was the gardener turned out to be her Lord and Teacher? In her anguish at the death of her Lord, and in failing to find his body, she could still discover unanticipated joy, energy and new life.
If we do not find God, it may be that we are following the wrong clues, like Elijah who went to the mountain cave to wait for the Lord to pass by. “… but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.” [1 Kings 19:13-16] God reveals himself to Elijah in sheer silence, in the absence of clues or fanfare. It may not have been at all how he expected to find God.
Our last Jesuit General Congregation spoke eloquently of the times and places where God is hidden: “Our mission takes Jesuits to limit-situations where we encounter energy and new life, but also anguish and death – where ‘the Divinity is hidden’. The experience of a hidden God cannot always be avoided, but even in the depths of darkness when God seems concealed, the transforming light of God is able to shine. God labours intensely in this hiddenness. Rising from the tombs of personal life and history, the Lord appears when we least expect, with his personal consolation as a friend and as the centre of a fraternal and servant community. From this experience of God labouring in the heart of life, our identity as ‘servants of Christ’s mission’ rises up ever anew.” [Jesuit General Congregation 35, D 2.7]
It is curiously helpful to learn that God’s presence among us is mystery, and that he can be known only if we search. The disciples experienced the darkest of moments before they could discover that he is alive. We relive this story at Easter. We can review the dark moments of our own lives and of the history of peoples afflicted. Do take time to be still and find God in the silence. Draw consolation, courage and strength from the intense labour of God in this hiddenness in the times and places that appear to be dark.
I wish one and all a Happy and Joyous Easter.
Fr Mark Raper SJ
President, Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
March 22, 2016