What do we celebrate at Easter? God stretches out His hands

Julian Paparella

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Photo by Vanesa Guerrero, RPM on Cathopic.

What do we celebrate at Easter? The whole mystery of Easter can be summarized in a simple phrase: God stretches out his hands. God stretches out His hands between the Cross and the Resurrection, between death and life, between heaven and earth, uniting all of humanity with Himself.

From the Cross to the Resurrection

At Mass we hear the poignant words that Jesus “stretched out His hands as He endured His passion, so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection.” (Eucharistic Prayer II) Imagine Jesus, reaching out His arms to endure his passion. Jesus’ arms are not forced open: He stretches them out willingly, to die for our salvation. This is what we celebrate and witness on Good Friday, as we watch our Lord suffer and give his life for us. But death does not have the last word. The outstretched arms of Jesus on the Cross do not droop in defeat but reach out to embrace us, as the tree of life from which flows the wellspring of everlasting salvation.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

From the Cross to the Resurrection

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Between death and life

The outstretched arms of Jesus are a bridge from death to life. This is the bridge that Jesus crosses over on Holy Saturday, as he descends into hell to awaken those who have fallen asleep. There is beautiful artwork of Jesus with His arms outstretched raising those who died before Him. Jesus does not just resurrect for Himself; He rises to raise us up. He comes back to life to restore our life. He passes from death to life so that we can accompany Him on this same journey.

Jesus rises from the grave and pulls us up out of our graves with Him. This is what Jesus does with our loved ones who have passed away. For Christ, they are not dead but sleeping, and He comes to lift them up and give them new life. In this way, Easter is not only the feast of the resurrection of Jesus, but the feast of the resurrection of all those who have fallen asleep, and the feast of our resurrection too. In Christ, we remain in communion with those who have gone before us. He is our bridge to them, and their bridge to us.

Between heaven and earth

Jesus stretches out His arms on the Cross to bring together heaven and earth. Indeed, Jesus’ whole life in our world is a rendezvous between earth and heaven. Jesus is the kingdom of God present in our midst. He comes from God to bring us to God. Jesus descends to earth from the heart of the Trinity, as the outstretched arm of the Father, reaching out to rescue humanity from sin and death. Jesus rises and ascends into heaven in order to bring us with Him, giving us to share in the life of the Trinity. God the Son became a human being in order that we may live forever as sons and daughters of God with Him.

Between Jew and Greek

Jesus bridges heaven and earth not only so that we can be united with God as individuals but together. Indeed, heaven is not a solitary experience in which each one of us has our own little hotel suite and we all mind our own business in peace. Rather, heaven is at once union with God and the unity of the entire human race. Being saved is not only being reconciled with God, but also being reconciled with all our brothers and sisters in humanity. For God does not save us merely as individuals, but together as a people that He gathers to Himself. (cf. Lumen Gentium #1, 9)

The death and resurrection of Jesus not only has the power to reconcile us to God, but also to reconcile us to one another. In Jesus’ time, a major religious division in society was between Jews and Greeks. One was seen as God’s people while the other was considered to be pagan. Yet Jesus breaks down the walls of division between them, reconciling them to one another by the blood of the Cross. In Saint Paul’s words:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. (Ephesians 2:13-22)

The death of Jesus marks a turning point in our relationships with one another as human beings. By His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus seeks to establish peace between warring peoples. He dies to break down the walls that separate us from God, as well as the walls that separate us from one another. This is true not only for countries at war, but also in our day-to-day lives, in the divisions, conflicts, and tensions that afflict our relationships with one another, whether in our families, in the workplace, or in our communities. He wants to make us citizens of heaven, members of the family of God, starting here and now.

This year, let Jesus be the Bridge in your life. Let Him walk with you through the crosses that you experience to touch your life with the power of the resurrection. Let Him reconcile you with God and with others, and lead you and those around you on the path of eternal life. Let Jesus reach out His hands to you. May He embrace us and bring us together in Him.

Risen Jesus, come and bridge heaven and earth in our lives and in our world. Draw us into unity and peace with God and one another. Amen.