Easter is the summit of the Christian Faith. Since the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, mankind had been estranged from God by original sin. This vast chasm could not be bridged by human effort.
After the Fall, all that we are left with is the promise of salvation. Without this promise there would have been no hope. While Christ was born at Christmas, it is at Easter that He drinks the cup offered by the Father for our salvation and redemption. This makes Easter the greatest event that will ever happen in human history.
Elizabeth Winthrop has primarily used parts of the Passion Account by St. Matthew and several verses from St. Luke’s Gospel to tell the story of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. The book is entitled “He is Risen: The Easter Story.”
All of the Evangelists had many facts and stories about Our Lord’s Passion available to them. The Holy Spirit inspired them to choose certain details of these holy events, guided their writing and protected them from error. St. Matthew’s Gospel holds a particular power for the faithful. St. Matthew, the tax collector, is likely to have been the most educated of all the Apostles. As a result, his gospel is particularly filled with details of the Last Supper, the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. Only St. Matthew relates that Pontius Pilate’s wife wrote him a letter urging him to have nothing to do with the trial of Our Lord.
Additionally, St. Matthew alone relates Pilate washing his hands in front of the Jewish mob. As Jesus is dying, St. Matthew recounts Our Blessed Savior praying Psalm 22 which begins with the words: “My God, My God why have You abandoned Me.”
After the earthquake following Christ’s death, the pagan Roman centurion tells us that Jesus “Truly, this was the Son of God.” (Mt 27:54)
The artwork in Winthrop’s rendition of St. Matthew’s Gospel is dark brown and somber. However, the colors become lighter as the women go to the tomb on Easter morning and witness the Resurrection. Finally, in the concluding verses of St. Matthew’s Gospel, the illustrations become a brighter yellow as the apostles witness Our Lord’s Ascension into heaven.
The translation used by Winthrop is the older King James Version. As a result, the phrasing may be sometimes difficult for young listeners.
This reviewer would like to mention several important points of St. Matthew’s Passion account. “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me,” are the opening words of Psalm 22. Having been scourged and crucified, it seems understandable to me that Christ may not have been able to say more than the opening verse of the psalm. This does not mean that He died in despair. Though clearly related to the suffering of Jesus, the psalm concludes in triumph with the words: “And I will live for the Lord; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.” (New American Bible, Ps 22: 31-32)
Additionally, Vatican II issued the famous document Nostra Aetate which specifically addresses the mob’s response to Pilate: “His Blood be upon us and upon our children. (Mt. 27:25) Vatican II in Part Four of Nostra Aetate states that: “what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. The Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures…. Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”
I hope you get the opportunity to read this fine account of St. Matthew’s Gospel by Elizabeth Winthrop. As well, I hope you and your family have a blessed Easter. Rejoice, He has Risen!
