Throughout this Holy Week we have been witnesses to the inner thoughts and affections of Jesus’ heart: watching him bend low to wash our feet; sensing his eagerness to give us everything he has, including his body and blood; hearing his agonizing cry from the cross. But tonight, before we began our vigil, there was only silence and darkness. There were no witnesses. The resurrection was shrouded in holy silence. But now the bells have been untied, the Exsultet has awakened heaven and earth, and the holy women have astounded us and reported a vision of angels who announced that Christ is risen from the dead. The silence has been broken! But one thing still puzzles me. What was in Jesus’ heart at the moment of his resurrection? Is there any insight from his heart that would help us understand the meaning of the resurrection we are celebrating? Well, I will take a risk here and suggest something we might ponder—the exchange between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit on the night of the resurrection?
Now, it may be beyond presumption on my part to suggest anything about the exchange of the Holy Trinity at the resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus told us that the Spirit would lead us into all truth, and what greater truth is there than the exchange of love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. What better way for Jesus to express his love for the Father and the Spirit than to show them his wounds? What more could the Father do than exalt infinitely in these words: “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Could the Spirit do more than be a resounding chorus proceeding from the Father and the Son in praise of their mutual glory?
For what we have on this holy night is love brought low and love exalted and love consummated: an overflowing, outpouring of love, honor, and praise by each person of the Holy Trinity for the other. Our Almighty Father has emptied himself so that his only begotten Son could take the lowest place, even in hell, waiting for the moment when he could exalt his Son higher than the heavens. And the Holy Spirit has breathed over the waters of our chaos and the chaos of the tomb so that Jesus might be raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit.
What else can we say about this secret moment of the resurrection? It was a marvelous and all-holy intimacy. Recall these words of Jesus to his disciples, “Do you not believe that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father?” And these words of the Apostle, “the Spirit is the witness and the Spirit is the truth” who reveals the Jesus’ total vindication and glorification.
There is a technical term for the reality I am trying to describe. You may be familiar with it: circumincession in Latin and perichoresis in Greek. It refers to the intimate union of the three persons of the Trinity. If we want to get some insight into the heart and mind of Jesus at the resurrection, his interpersonal joy of being one with the Father and with the Spirit, and they with him, is a place to look. You might call it a holy dance among the three persons of the Trinity, and we are invited to share their joy. If we want to know what was in Jesus’ heart at the moment of the resurrection, we have only to think of his love for the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is the joy of Jesus’ heart and the foundation of ours.
