Two children were presented with a pile of dung in front of them. One child said, “Oh dear! What a mess. Surely there cannot be a horse in there? How would the horse be able to withstand such a mess?” The other child began to look through the pile of dung with much enthusiasm, and when asked what he was doing, he excitedly said, “If there is a pile of dung, there must be a horse in there somewhere!” When you look at these two children, do you see what is missing, or do you see what is there or potentially there?
In today’s Gospel, we come across the story of Peter and the other disciple, the one loved by Jesus, running to the tomb. Both entered the tomb, but had entirely different experiences. Peter enters and sees that the body of Jesus is missing. He begins to worry and wonder what has happened to Jesus’ body. By doing so, he misses the point by focusing on what is missing, since the empty tomb is actually a sign that Jesus has risen from the dead as He has promised. On the other hand, the other disciple enters the tomb and “he saw and he believed.” The other disciple recognised the significance of the empty tomb, that is, it is not a sign of a missing Jesus, but a sign of Christ’s presence, as Christ has risen and is now present to all again.
Today, we are invited to put on the eyes of faith like the other disciple who “saw and believed.” We may face all sorts of problems, struggles and difficulties, but God is not absent but present to help and guide us. We must not look for Jesus among the dead but among the living. We must not remain at the empty tomb and waste our efforts looking at it, since Jesus Christ has risen! He is pointing the way out of the empty tomb and pointing us the way to new life. Let us give thanks to God and enthusiastically share this message of hope to all, that Jesus has risen!