Vse se je začelo danes, na velikonočni dan, prvi dan v tednu, ko so žene in apostoli z nemalo presenečenja spoznali, da je grob prazen. Začelo se je oznanilo apostolov: grob je prazen, iz česar sledi, da on živi! Prvo soočenje je bilo sicer bolj kot v veličino vstajenja usmerjeno v grob in vse mogoče občutke stiske, ki so bili povezani z Jezusovo smrtjo: zatajitev, obsodba, sramota, mučenje, tragična smrt. Skratka, grob kot nujni zaključek poti. Kako naj si sicer razlagamo dejstvo, da Janez v svojem 20. poglavju v vsega skupaj 9 vrsticah besedila 7 krat uporabi besedo grob? Apostoli so sčasoma, ker so se vodili Božjemu duhu, naredili pot vere in prišli ne samo do notranje trdnosti, temveč predvsem do nuje deliti ta dogodek Jezusovega vstajenja. Apostolska dela zapišejo: “Tiste dni je Peter vstal in spregovoril: veste kaj se je dogajalo, veste o Jezusu iz Nazareta. Bog ga je tretji dan obudil in dal, da se je očitno prikazoval” (nekoliko parafraziran citat Apd 10,37sl.). Če pa povzamemo njegovo oznanilo in oznanilo vseh apostolov, potem lahko z eno besedo rečemo, da so vzkliknili: Živi! On živi!
Letos je nadvse priročno, da točno ta apostolski oz. petrinski vzklik vzamem naravnost iz ust trenutnega naslednika apostola Petra, Frančiška, saj je to ne samo zapisal v po-sinodalno spodbudo mladim in vsemu božjemu ljudstvu, temveč ji je namenil točno takšen naslov: Christus Vivit! V naslovu in načinu kako Frančišek začne svoje besedilo, jasno prepoznavam enako notranjo pot, ki jo je pred nekaj leti naredil Peter: od soočenja s šokom groba preko notranjega izkustva moči vstajenja do vzklika popolne gotovosti, da On živi!. To je bil začetek v času in kraju, torej v trenutku, ko apostola vstopita v točno tisti grob, ampak tudi začetek v duhu, ker mora vsak od nas pustiti, da nas to oznanilo prevzame od začetka. Ponovimo si ga v različici naslednika apostola Petra: “Kristus živi! On je naše upanje in on je najlepša mladost tega sveta. Vse, česar se dotakne, se pomladi, postane novo, se napolni z življenjem. Prve besede, ki jih torej želim nasloviti na vsakega izmed vas, mladi kristjani, se glasijo: On živi in te želi živega!” (CV 1)
Vsak od nas lahko torej danes stopi pred Jezusa in ga pozove, naj bo obilen in konkreten v podarjanju notranjega doživetja tega, kar se je dejansko zgodilo z njim: Živi! Pri tem si lahko pomagamo z vidiki, ki jih navaja prva krščanska skupnost: prazen grob, oznanilo apostolov in Pisma.
Prazen grob
Kot rečeno, ali ni naravnost neverjetno, da Janez v svojem poročilu v 9 vrsticah besedo grob uporabi 7 krat? Že res, da je šlo predvsem za grob. A vendar bi bil moral opaziti dejstvo, da je končno besedilo z vidika stila nekoliko nerodno. Težko je to razložiti drugače kot z oceno, da je evangelist naravnost želel, da beseda bode v oči. Le zakaj si je zamislil nekaj takega, če ne ravno zaradi poudarka, da je šlo za pokop telesa. Jezus, ki so ga vsi poznali, skupaj z njim jedli in pili, ga poslušali in izkušali njegove čudeže, je bil resnično umrl in bil položen v grob, popolna enako kot vsak drug človek, čigar telesno življenje se konča. Evangelisti so tej podrobnosti posvetili veliko pozornost zaradi preprostega dejstva: ker kristjani oznanjamo Jezusovo vstajenje v telesu. Ne govorimo o vstajenju njegove duše ali še hujše, o nekakšnem nesmrtnem spominu, kot da bi si za tolažbo peli You’ll be in my heart, always.
Temu vidiku Janez doda še eno malenkost, ki pa to seveda ni: povoji. Le zakaj bi tako izpostavil dejstvo, da so bili povoji v grobu? Ker so jih Judje uporabljali za povijanje mrtvih teles! Dejstvo, da so bili v grobu povoji, je še dodaten poudarek, da je bilo v grobu Jezusovo mrtvo telo in da je torej prazen grob s povoji dokaz Jezusovega vstajenja v telesu.
Apostolsko oznanilo
Iz novozaveznih poročil je jasno kako so apostoli, začenši s Petrom, razumeli dogodek vstajenja Jezusa iz Nazareta. Vstajenje ni nekakšen mit, temveč je dogodek, ki v zgodovino vstopi kot popolna novost. Apostoli in žene ob grobu so temu priče, četudi se sprva tega niti niso zavedali. Sčasoma pa so spoznali, da so apostoli in drugi Jezusovi učenci izbrane priče, ki jih je Bog vnaprej izbral (Apd 10,41). Ekskluzivnost? Nikakor ne, pač pa odsev normalnega načina božjega delovanja, ki načeloma ne izbira velikih kozmičnih manifestacij, temveč preprosto metodo: pristopa k določenim ljudem in povzroči zelo otipljive dogodke, nad katerimi so te osebe popolnoma prevzete in povsem predrugačene: tako je bilo v primeru številnih prikazovanj Vstalega v prvi krščanski skupnosti. Zato imamo vedno ljudi, ki lahko ne samo z gotovostjo, temveč z izkušnjo transformacije rečejo: Jezus je v mojem življenju storil to konkretno stvar. To je pravzaprav edina krščanska metoda, ki se začne ravno z Jezusovim vstajenjem. Izbrane priče so deležne prikazovanj Vstalega, da bi lahko govorile ne samo o dogodku, temveč o dogodku, ki je spremenil njihovo življenje. In ga seveda postavili kot možnost vsem, ki poslušajo ali berejo.
Izpolnitev Pisma
“Nista še namreč razumela Pisma, da mora Gospod vstati od mrtvih” (Jn 20,9). Le katerega Pisma? Kje v svetih spisih imamo preroško napoved vstajenja od mrtvih, še več, da Gospod mora vstati od mrtvih? Težko vprašanje. Vsekakor pa vemo, da je Gospod svoje vstajenje povezal z eno samo zgodbo SZ: Jonom. Zgodba sicer govori o njegovem 3-dnevnem bivanju v trebuhu ribe, a dosti bolj je pomembna njegova molitev: “Iz trebuha podzemlja (db. šeola) sem vpil … potegnil si moje življenje iz jame (jame šeola), Gospod, moj Bog” (Jon 2,3.7). Dosti bolj kot za neverjetno zgodbo z ribo besedilo pred nas postavi Jonovo molitev, ki se tako rekoč dviga iz njegove smrti. Toliko bolj, ker je prva beseda, ki mu jo reče Bog, potem ko se znajde na obali: “Vstani!” (Jon 3,1), po hebrejsko pa Qum! Ne, da bi bil veliki poznavalec hebrejščine, to besedo pa vseeno vsi poznamo iz Jezusovih ust, ko reče: Talita, qum! (Mr 5,41).
Če povzamem: Jezus navaja mesto iz Pisma, kjer Bog iz smrti obudil preroka in ga pošlje oznanjat, zaradi česar so Ninivljani njegovo besedo vzeli resno. Njihovo razmišljanje je bilo logično: če ima Bog moč, da iz smrti obudi preroka, potem ima tudi moč, da pravično ovrednoti naše (grešno) življenje. In so se spreobrnili. Če pa ima že čudež tako veliko moč, koliko večjo moč ima potem Jezusovo vstajenje od mrtvih? “Glejte, več kakor Jona je tukaj!” (Mt 12,41) Razmišljanje apostolov je bilo podobno Ninivljanom: če ima Bog moč, da iz groba enkrat za vselej obudi Jezusovo telo, ali ni potem naravno, da za naše telo pričakujemo enak dogodek? Ne samo, da se spreobrnemo, temveč predvsem že vnaprej vstopimo v veliko resnico o nas: mišljeni smo za večnost in to večnost v objemu blaženega Boga.
Dragi brat, draga sestra! Peter in Janez ob vstopu v grob resda še nista razumela Pisma, da mora Gospod vstati od mrtvih. Na drugi strani pa nam ni potrebno vstopati v grob, ker razumemo Pismo: Gospod je moral vstati od mrtvih in z njim bomo vstali tudi mi!
Christus vivit!
English
Christus Vivit!
Everything started today, on the Easter day, on the first day of the week (cf. Jn 20:1), when women and apostles noticed (with great surprise) that the tomb was empty. It is the announcement of the apostles that has begun: the tomb is empty, which implies that He lives! The first confrontation of the apostles was oriented much more at the grave than at the greatness of the resurrection. On the grave as a necessary completion of the circle of life. How else can we explain the fact that John uses the word tomb seven times in the first nine verses of chapter 20? The apostles have walked the path of faith and over time + with the assistance of the Spirit of God came not only to the certitude of the resurrection of the Christ as the actual event but also to a need of sharing this same event. In the Acts of the Apostles, the text says: “In those days Peter said, You yourselves know what has happened throughout the land, you know of Jesus from Nazareth, whom God raised on the third day and made him appear”(cf. Act 10:37). If we summarize the sermons of Peter and other apostles, we can say in one word that they were very short and clear: He lives! Jesus is alive!
It seems to be highly convenient to be able to take this same apostolic exclamation directly from the mouth of today’s successor of the Apostle Peter, Pope Francis, as he has chosen it to be the title of his post-synodal apostolic letter: Christ Vivit! If I look at the title and the very beginning of his text, I recognize the pope’s inner path. Apostle Peter took this same one a few years back. He goes from the confrontation with the grave through the intimate experience of the power of resurrection to the perfect certainty that He is alive! This was the essential experience of Peter and John in the very beginning. Not only it represents the beginning of Christianity, but also the beginning of my journey with Jesus, of my faith. This is how the pope begins his text: Christ is alive! He is our hope, and beautifully he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive, and he wants you to be alive! (CV 1).
Each one of us can come to Jesus today and ask him to be abundant and tangible with the experience of what happened on the first day: He lives! Let’s look at the apostolic writing to understand it better. They talk about the empty tomb, the announcement of the apostles and the Holy Scriptures.
Empty tomb
Once again, isn’t it amazing that John uses the word tomb seven times in his 9-verse account? He would have to notice that the final text is somewhat awkward from the stylistic point of view … Grammarly would remark: the word tomb seems to repeat in the passage, use another one. It’s hard to explain this otherwise than by saying that the evangelist wanted to catch the attention. Why did he come up with something like that, if not because of the emphasis: it was the body of Jesus which was buried. Jesus died and was placed in a grave, just like any other person whose life ends. The evangelists paid much attention to this detail because Christians have always proclaimed the resurrection of the body. We are not talking about the resurrection of his soul or, much worse, about a kind of permanent memory.
John adds another detail which is after all not that small: the strips of linen and the cloth. Why should he point out that the strips were in the grave? Because the Jews used them for the dead body! It underlines the fact that the resurrection of Jesus in the flesh.
Apostolic announcement
The New Testament accounts show how the apostolic church, beginning with Peter, understood the event of the resurrection of Jesus. It’s not about a myth, but an event that goes down in history as an absolute novelty. The apostles and the women were the witnesses chosen by God (Acts 10:41). Exclusivity? Not at all but the type of a usual divine intervention which always uses a straightforward method: He approaches certain people and causes actual events, through which one is completely taken over and transformed. The example is the appearances of the Risen. Therefore, there are always those who can testify how Jesus changed their lives. The testimony is the only Christian method that begins precisely with the resurrection of Jesus. The chosen witnesses are sent to speak about the event that changed their lives. Moreover, of course, they put it as an opportunity for all who read or listen.
The fulfillment of the scriptures
“For they still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead”(John 20: 9). However, which Scripture? Where in the Scriptures do we find a prophecy of the resurrection from the dead, all the more so that the Lord must rise from the dead? A difficult question. In any case, we know that the Lord has associated His resurrection with a story of the Old Testament: the one of Jonah. He speaks of his three-day staying in the belly of the fish, but much more important is his prayer: “From deep in the realm of the dead (Sheol) I called for help … however, you Lord my God brought me life up from the pit (the pit of Sheol)” (Jon 2: 3, 7). It is much more than an incredible story about the fish because the text puts the prayer of Jonah before us, which comes from his death. Even more so because of the first word which comes from the mouth of God, once Jonah is on the shore of the sea: “Get on the way!” (Jon 3:1) Which is a translation from the Hebrew Qum! Not that I am a great scholar of the Hebrew, but we all know this word from the mouth of Jesus: Talitha, qum! (Mc 5:41).
In summary, Jesus quotes a passage from the Scripture where God raises the Prophet from death and sends him to Nineveh. The citizens have taken the word of the Prophet very seriously. Their reasoning was very logical: if God has such a power to raise the Prophet from death, then he can evaluate our (sinful) life. So so they converted. However, if a miracle has such a power, how much more powerful will be the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? “And behold, something greater than Jonah is here!” (Matt. 12:41) The reasoning of the apostles was a little bit like one of the citizens of Nineveh: if God has the power to raise the body of Jesus once and for all from the grave, then should we not expect the same for our bodies? Not only do we need to be converted but we especially enter into the great truth about ourselves: we are created for eternity and eternity with God!
Dear brother, dear sister! When Peter and John entered the tomb, they did not yet understand the Scripture that the Lord must rise from the dead. On the other hand, we do not need to enter the grave because we know the Scripture: the Lord had to rise from the dead, and with Him, we too will rise!
Christ vivit!
stalno na poti 