After fasting for 50 days to prepare ourselves to participate in the passion of our Savior, we have experienced it all. The resurrection marked the completion of the redemption plan laid out by God to save the humanity from the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The price of redemption was rather high. The son of God had to become human and live with us in this world and then suffer the passions, crucified, died, buried and then arose on the third day defeating the death and Satan. Jesus paid the ransom to save us. God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten son to die for us. That is love.

The greatest symbol in Christian world is the empty cross and the empty tomb. When we see a cross, we make the sign of the cross remembering the Love of God who suffered on the cross for us. He redeemed us from the darkness into the light and made us eligible to become the sons and daughters of God.

On that Easter morning, the only persons who dared to go to the garden where the tomb of Jesus was situated, were Mary and her friends. The disciples were afraid of Romans and Jews and becoming the casualty in their hands. At least, in the short term, it appeared that the church authorities persisted and Jesus' side lost to the Romans. Initially the women wondered who will move the stone, that covered the cave, for them. It was a large stone and had the seal of Roman Emperor. Then they looked and found that the tombstone has already been removed. They thought someone beat them in the act and peeked into the tomb. John explains what happened next:

". . . Mary stood weeping outside the tomb and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

They said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?'
She said to them, 'Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.'

Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?'

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, 'Sir, if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.'
Jesus said to her, 'Mary.'
'Rabboni!' (which means Teacher).

Jesus said to her, 'Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'

Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord!'; and she told them that he had said these things to her."
- John 20: 11-18

If you had been reading Malankara World for sometime, you will recall that one of our themes is that when we come into contact with Jesus (or have an encounter with Jesus), we are instantly transformed. We are never the same. Notice, this is happening to Mary. She was afraid to go to the garden at night. But she and her friends did because they loved Jesus so much. Then they saw the tomb was empty and the first thought that came into their mind was that someone stole Jesus' body. Now she is more afraid. Then she sees the person behind her. She thought it was the gardener (remember it was still dark and she could not see the person well.). She thought, 'surely he will know what happened to the body of Jesus.' When Jesus called her 'Mary' she instantly recognized his voice and replied, 'Rabboni!' (my teacher). The fear is gone. Her teacher is alive. She still does not know how Jesus was alive. Those are details. What matters is that her Rabboni is alive.

Notice also that Jesus telling Mary, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'
Jesus' Father is Mary's Father and the Father of the Disciples.
Jesus' God is Mary's God and the God of the Disciples.

Jesus is telling Mary, "Look Mary, I have completed my mission. You are now a daughter of God, my Father, as a result of what I did."
You are a new person after the resurrection of Jesus!

Mary ran and told the good news to the disciples, who were afraid of the Jews and were hiding inside a locked room. As soon as they heard about the news, Peter and John ran to the garden. Their fear is gone! Jesus is alive!!

Resurrection changed them too. It changes all of us. Pope Benedict says,

"Faith in the resurrection of Jesus says that there is a future for every human being . . . God exists: that is the real message of Easter. Anyone who even begins to grasp what this means also knows what it means to be redeemed."

Just like April showers bring May flowers in North America, about 2 weeks or so before Easter every year, the Fake Media here starts publishing articles discrediting the resurrection of Jesus They quote some "scientists" who do not believe in the existence of God. But 2000 years after the first resurrection, and despite all the concerted efforts to disprove it, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead stands because it has withstood the scrutiny of one investigation after another. Secular professors of history and archeology who have set out to disprove the fact of the resurrection have come away with the clear testimony that history is an ally of the resurrection. Think about it in terms of today: Jesus was dead, He was buried, and has now risen from the dead! Christianity is the only religion in the world that can claim to have a resurrected Savior. If Christ can rise from the dead, you and I can trust Him with the problems of our lives.

Our lives are transformed for ever due to the resurrection of Christ as St. Paul wrote to Corinthians:

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
......

"Death has been swallowed up in victory."[Isaiah 25:8]

55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"[Hosea 13:14]
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 15:12-19; 54a-57.

He is Risen.
Indeed, He is Risen!