Reflection for April 16, Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil: Luke 24:1-12

Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

At daybreak on the first day of the week the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.  

They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words.  

Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.

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Reflection:

Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? 

After the passion and death of Jesus on the cross comes His resurrection. What does Jesus resurrection signify? It signifies the Lord’s triumph over the forces of evil, this signifies also that evil will not in any way triumph over good.  

In this arena of life that we are presently walking thru the devil will test us with the intent to eventually capture us with the end objective to bring us to his kingdom in hell. Those who have no faith or feeble faith end up in hell because they have not fought the devil’s temptation they simply went thru it hence they suffer for their acquiescence to the devil.  

However, those who remained steadfast in their faith and love for God are able to defeat whatever scheming the devil throws upon them. And in the end they live life with God forever on their side. This is what Jesus did: He resisted the devil until the end even at the cost of His life.

What if Jesus did not resist the devil and simply went with the flow? There would have been no resurrection, there would have been no empty tomb and there would have been no triumph over death. But Jesus won over death because He resisted the devil. 

We also have to resist the devil who consistently comes to us to win us over to his side with the end objective of destroying us. We therefore have to reject Satan and all his evil scheming so that at the end we would also be victorious over death and be with God in heaven someday. - Marino J. Dasmarinas