Resurrection Play Set – The story

Easter morning. After the crucifixion, Jesus was laid in a tomb. Different from the tombs we have here at the cemetery. It was more like a cave, with a big stone in front of the entrance. Mary sees the stone has been removed and so she called the other disciples, Peter and John and they go with her and they look inside the tomb see there is nobody in the tomb! John believes that Jesus rose from the dead as he said he would and they leave…But Mary stays there and she cries, and she cannot stop crying. The angels come to comfort her but she still cries. In the end, Jesus appears to her but she cries so much she cannot see him through her tears. At last he calls her name and she realizes it’s him, and she stops crying right away, she is overjoyed and Jesus tells her he had to go again but this time to be with God who is also her God. And Mary knows that Jesus is alive for ever!

My grand father’s death

Have you ever been to a cemetery? Of course, because we have a cemetery right here! But have you ever been to a funeral? The first time it happened to me, I was 12 years old. My granddad died, he was very old – 69 years old. He died at his home, he had a big house, he had 7 children and 14 grandchildren! When they brought down the casket in the stairs, everybody was crying – not only the children but also adults like in the story. Everybody loved him very much, he was so nice he used to make toasts for his puppy for breakfast and it drove my grandmother crazy. But as I was feeling very sad on the day of the funeral, my Dad told me something I’ll never forget. My dad told me: It would be very sad if we did not have faith, but we have faith and we know that now Granddad is happy. And my Dad said: Think about all the people he is going to see in heavens. How many time has it been since he last saw his Dad, and his Mom? And his own grandparents? And his friends from school? And his son? (My grandparents had lost an adult son)? And all the puppy dogs?

Resurrection: Seeing again the ones we love

I think my Dad taught me something very important about Resurrection on that day – what we hear in the story of the Gospel today. The Resurrection, it is not about scary stories, zombies or ghosts stories of people coming back from the dead, the Resurrection, it is about being reunited to all those we love. Do you hear how adults sometimes speak about death? They say that this person is in heavens now and so she does not suffer any more or she is at rest. And we know there is peace and no suffering even for very sick people after they die, but that’s not the most important. The most important is that in heavens we are all reunited with God and with one another. Jesus says to Mary: I am going to see my God who is also your God. To describe what heavens look like, Jesus used to tell stories all the time about banquets, big family meals. Aren’t you happy when all your family shows up for Christmas or Easter and you all have fun together? Well, that’s what it is to be with God and it is the greatest joy we can imagine, it is the joy we are created for.

There is sadness when we are separated…

But since we are meant to be together, we can also be very sad when we are separated…Have you ever been so sad, so sad that you could not stop crying and it doesn’t matter what people tell you to comfort you, you still can’t help crying? This is what happens to Mary today. She is so sad Jesus has gone she can’t stop crying. It does not matter what the disciples and the angels tell her, she has to see Jesus. We can feel very sad when we lose someone we love, and you know that if you have already lost a grandparent, or a friend or maybe a pet…even a teddy bear you really loved! I lost a cuddly bunny when I was little and my parents wanted to buy me a new one, but I didn’t want a new one, I wanted the one I had lost!! It does not matter what people tell you, when you cry because you miss someone you just want to see this person you miss, right? Well, as Christians we can still be sad when we lose someone, but we also know we are separated only for a little while and we will be reunited again and we can live with hope. Even if life is difficult, we know that Jesus has made things right again and people who are meant to be united are not separated for ever, even if they were very old or if they have done what they had to do on earth and so they’re gone and we don’t see them anymore for now.

Sometimes we lose people not because they’re dead but because we are not friends anymore and it can makes us very unhappy too. Sometimes we cry because people are mean to us and we hurt, or sometimes we have a fight and we don’t speak anymore…Ever happen to you? It happens all the time, even for adults. But when we believe that we are meant to be together and to be reunited, it’s not only with the ones it’s easy to be friends with. It’s with everybody, even the one at school who’s mean to you.

So we try to live now as “Resurrected people”

So as Christians, we try to make a special effort to get along with others, it does not mean we can be friends with everybody like that, but we know that we are all on our way to God so we really try to listen each other, to understand each other, to share our stuff, to ask for forgiveness… We do it not only because it is the “right” thing to do, but because we know that in the end that’s what will make us truly happy, when we can be all together. God’s great meal, it’s not just sitting next to one another not talking because God will make us sit together like students at school who must obey, it’s like sitting at a happy family meal when you see your cousins and you’re so excited you get to do all the things you love with them. That’s what happen when we receive communion: we all have a meal together to remember that’s what is going to happen in heavens with Jesus. Communion is a meal but it is also about being together reconciled.

Now I know you all want to know about the eggs and the bunnies right? For centuries, people have offered to one another chocolate and candy on Easter Day to remember the feast, the delicious meal of God. But the egg is also an image to say that we live a new life. Not only a life that will start in heavens, but a life that can start right now, when we choose to love God instead of rejecting God as some people rejected Jesus, when we choose to be friends like Jesus taught us instead of hurting each other. So now we’re going to have communion and after we’ll go egg hunting!