It turns out that fake news is not the invention of the internet. I am not sure when it started, but we know that it was alive and well in Jesus’ day. When the guards and the chief priests were trying to figure out how to explain the empty tomb, they made up a story about Jesus’ disciples stealing his body. According to Matthew, that fake news was still circulating some fifty years later.
But that fake news didn’t have legs. Like in all things, truth prevailed. It could not be hidden. Peter boldly proclaimed this truth when, on Pentecost, he said “God raised [Jesus] up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24).
Jesus rose from the dead. It is the truth, not some fake news. The truth of the Resurrection was the turning point in human history, and it is the cornerstone of our faith. St. Paul summed it all up by saying that “if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
According to Pope Francis, “the Resurrection of Christ is our greatest certainty” (Homily 3/04/13). He tells us that we need to “carry this certainty ahead.” It is our mission to “pass on the witness that Jesus is alive.”
No fake news here…Jesus is alive!
