Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025: See the Light

See the Light

A wise Rabbi once asked his students, “How can we tell when night has ended and day has begun?”

One said, “When I can distinguish my field from my neighbor’s.”

Another replied, “When I can tell my house apart from a neighbor’s.”
A third offered, “When I can look into the field and tell a cow from a horse in the yard.”

The Rabbi shook his head and said, “You all speak of separation—between land, homes, and creatures. But the world is already too divided.” He paused, then continued gently, “The night ends and day begins when you look into the face of another and see a brother or a sister. When you recognize them as a friend—only then has the light truly come.” 

In the Gospel, we hear about day beginning on Easter morning. Mary Magdalene runs to Peter and John with the news of the empty tomb. They find it as she described and they came to believe. But what about hours and days before they saw and believed? There must have been confusion, fear, uncertainty. They must have been in the midst of grief and disoriented. They were expecting to find a body, not a miracle. 

It's as if they were in darkness (clouded by sorrow and shock) sort of like wearing sunglasses. [I put on sunglasses and invite all the kids to come up and receive a pair of sunglasses] Sunglasses are a good thing; they offer protection for our eyes, and they are helpful on bright days. But wearing sunglasses indoors is odd. Some people need to due to medical conditions, such as glaucoma, as is the case with Bono from U2. But for many of us, wearing sunglasses indoors isn’t the normal practice and can suggest a certain intellectual air or an attempt to project an image of coolness. Think of Snoopy's alter ego, "Joe Cool," or Neo in The Matrix, or even Tony Soprano in The Sopranos.

But as cool sunglasses are, they can distort our perception. They can make everything appear darker than it actually is. Sometimes we have "sunglasses of the soul.” So, I have some special sunglasses that I want to give away . . . 

• "Grumpy" Sunglasses: These make us see everything as bad and make us want to 
• complain all the time. "It's not fair!" "I don't want to!"
• "Scaredy-Cat" Sunglasses: These make us afraid of new things or people. We 
• might miss out on fun games or making new friends!
• “Laziness” sunglasses which suggest, "Why make the effort? It won't matter 
• anyway. 
• "Mean" Sunglasses: These make us say unkind things or not share with others.
• We forget that everyone is special and loved.
• "Can't-See-the-Good" Sunglasses: These make us only notice the bad things and 
• forget all the good things we have, like our family, our friends, and our toys.
• "Give-Up" Sunglasses: These make us think that things are too hard, and we don't 
• even want to try. We forget that with God's help, we can do amazing things!

But today, the stone has been rolled away, not just from a tomb in Jerusalem, but from the self-made tombs within our own hearts. Today, the light of the Resurrection shines, inviting us to see with new eyes – eyes of hope, eyes of love, eyes that recognize the face of our brother and sister in everyone we encounter. There are indeed significant challenges in the world today, in our civic life, and within our families. Let us not become the anger we oppose. Let us not become the negativity we despise. Martin Luther King Jr said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.” Instead, let us step out of the shadows and into the radiant dawn of Easter.