by Fr. Andrew Kelly
EASTER SUNDAY – APRIL 20, 2014
When Jesus says: “Do this in memory of me,” Jesus is telling the believing community that whenever the community is listening to the Scriptures, or ritualizing events in Jesus’ life in faith, the community is experiencing what it is hearing and ritualizing.
This is especially true with Easter Sunday’s Gospel (John 20:1-9). The story says the beloved disciple, the one closest to Jesus in John’s Gospel, “who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that Jesus must rise from the dead.”
The community has the Scriptures. When the community listens to the Easter Scriptures in the spirit of “Do this in memory of me,” the community becomes the beloved disciple: “…and he saw and believed…”
Easter Sunday, the risen Jesus has an Easter proclamation and blessing for the community who listens to the Easter Scriptures and then comes to Easter faith: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29)
When the community remembers to “Do this in memory of me,” the risen Jesus joins the community’s acclamations: “Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!” “Alleluia!”
(Father Andrew Kelly is a retired priest of the Diocese of Davenport.)
