the Littlest — Yet Biggest — Secret of the Tomb
“And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week,
they came to the Sepulchre,
the sun being now risen. …
And entering into the Sepulchre,
they saw a young man
sitting on the right side,
clothed with a white robe:
and they were astonished.
Who saith to them:
‘Be not affrighted;
you seek Jesus of Nazareth,
who was Crucified:
He is risen, He is not here,
behold the place where they laid Him.
But go, tell His disciples and Peter
the He goeth before you into Galilee;
there you shall see Him, as He told you.’
But they going out, fled from the Sepulchre.
For fear and trembling had seized them. …
And after that He appeared in another shape
to two of them walking as they were going into the country.”
Mark 16:2, 5-8, 12
“But there eyes were held, that they should not know Him.”
Luke 24:16
It involved Peter’s question to Jesus in regard to whether or not John would live or die before the coming of the Lord.
As a result of Jesus’ response to Peter the “saying therefore went abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die.” John 21:23.
John is quick to correct the misinterpretation that was occurring about Jesus’ Words among the Lord’s closest disciples when the Apostle writes, “Jesus did not say to him: ‘he should not die’; but, ‘So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee?’ ” John 21:23.
In other words, Jesus, who is the King, was pretty much telling His chief Apostle Peter, that it was none of his business what the Lord had planned for John. That was between God and the Beloved Disciple. Whether John lived or died before the coming of the Lord was of no consequence to Peter and the Lord’s Words did not indicate one way or the other what was to happen. The real focus of Jesus, in this statement, was on Peter, when the Lord said, “What is it to thee?”
The reason we are using this illustration is because we know full well that in the Gospel verses we have called out at the beginning of this article, the longtime interpretation of who the “young man” is has traditionally been an Angel.
This, of course, corresponds nicely with Matthew’s Gospel which, in relating a similar scene of the women at the Tomb, specifically indicates that an Angel rolled away the stone, sat on it, and informed Jesus’ followers that the Lord was no longer in the Sepulchre and they would find Him, as He had said, in Galilee.
As many of our readers know, we have never claimed to be visionaries, seers or prophets. We have never even claimed to be Saints! We are simply sindonologists, people who love to study the Shroud of Turin and, as a result, have grown incredibly close to our Lord — not because we merit it, but because when you honor and worship His Holy Face and Passion, Jesus will draw you closer to Him.
In growing closer to our Lord and His Mother, it has become so crystal clear — unlike when were “doubting Thomases” — that the Lord loves secrets. In this regard, it is no wonder He loves to be the Holy Child!
And while we claim no special insight, we have also — in our walk with Jesus — become extremely close to Him as the Holy Child by loving, honoring, venerating and worshipping Him, especially in the Eucharist!
There is a pattern to Jesus, as it appears to us: first, He loves to draw people close to Him as the Crucified Lord. Once you get close to Him as your Savior, He then seems to offer you the Gift of His Mother. If you accept this great Gift of Love from Him, His Mother then seems to offer you back Jesus as the Holy Child.
The greatest “Secret” of all! God — the Alpha and Omega — loves to be a Child!
And as the great Saints know, so many of them had incredible close encounters of the Holy Child kind. Even Saint Faustina, who was the human instrument Jesus used to give us the amazing Feast of Divine Mercy that will be celebrated this Sunday, was, as she records in her diary, privileged to have visions of our Lord as the Holy Child.
These, of course, are hard concepts for many adults to comprehend. After all, as an adult, how many of us want to deal with a Child as our Superior?
Yet, unless we become as little children, the Lord specifically told us we will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!
Is there a correlation to what we are discussing?
We are sure the great Saints would confirm there is, especially in the great Truths we have learned about God from St. Anthony of Padua to St. Therese, etc., etc.
Which brings us to the point we want to make.
It has always struck us that the Holy Spirit never makes a mistake, because, of course, He is God. As the Author of the Scriptures, we always wondered why so many verses are not exactly the same as the others which describe similar events.
Easily, the answer here is that different eyewitnesses see things differently. Also, spiritually, some of the Gospel writers were obviously focusing on aspects of the Life of Christ that they were to bring out which the others had not focused on.
But then again, as we are trying to explain, we believe the Holy Spirit does nothing by accident, and, therefore, we find it extremely interesting that in Mark’s Gospel of the women entering the Tomb, no mention of an Angel inside is made. Remember, they are no longer outside Jesus’ resting place when the Angel is seen as described in Matthew’s Gospel; they are now inside.
And, instead of an Angel, we find inside the Tomb the description of a “young man … clothed in a white robe.”
We have a theory about who this young “Man” really is.
We could be wrong and, as we all will, we will certainly find out when the Lord allows us — prayerfully — to make it to Heaven.
As you can imagine by now, we believe that the young “Man” is not an Angel, but — drum roll and trumpets, please — He is Jesus Himself!
He is Jesus as the Holy Child — the Alpha and the Omega — hanging out in His Tomb after His Resurrection. The Young Man, much like the Lamb in the Book of Apocalypse whom the “ancients” fall down before to worship and adore.
The Holy Child, who we see so often depicted as the King of Kings in royal robes, with a golden Crown on His Head, and a white robe as His garment underneath.
The Holy Child, who was not quite ready to reveal Himself to the world after His Crucifixion as this King who first came to us in a Manger.
The Holy Child, who, in reality, is not the Crucified One, as He shows Himself so often to the Saints without any of the wounds of Christ Jesus!
Yes, of course, do not think that we do not know that Jesus as the Holy Child is one and the same as Jesus the Crucified One. Nor are we daring to suggest that there is any separation between the two. It is much like talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in one God. Jesus, two manifestations in One Person: the Holy Child and the Crucified One!
In this regard, Jesus, as the Master of Words, can make the simple statement as the Holy Child that His disciples were seeking “Jesus of Nazareth who was Crucified. He is not here”; for instead, it is Jesus appearing in “another shape” “that they should not know Him.”
The Holy Child does not manifest the wounds of Christ, nor His beard, nor any other aspect of His “adult” features. He, instead, appears as a “young Man.”
Are we correct in this interpretation and does it really matter?
The key to this discussion is not to determine if we are correct, but to open up our minds as believers that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GOD!
And, in our extremely finite understanding of Him, as Peter, we must then take great caution how we interpret His Words, for they do not always mean what we think they mean.
In our hearts, we truly believe we have come across one of the “littlest — but biggest — secrets” of our Lord’s Tomb! We spiritually feel that, indeed, the young Man is no one else than the Lord Jesus in “another shape” as the Holy Child!
After all, Jesus as the Holy Child is still God; He just looks little!
But if there is any lesson in our thought process to question who the young “Man” is in the Tomb that first Easter Sunday, it is to show that we — whether protest-ants, Catholics, secular humanists, “scholars,” etc. — need to stop reinterpreting the Scriptures, reinterpreting the Mass, reinterpreting Sacred Tradition, and stick with the knowledge handed down to us not only from the Apostles, but from the true visionaries and Saints of the Church!
Anything less and we may find ourselves — whether bishops, laity or schismatic believers — hearing the words from Jesus on Judgment Day in regard to our arguments against the Latin Vulgate as the True Word of God, against the Latin Mass as the true Sacrifice of the Mass, against the Bishop of Rome as the true Vicar of Christ:
“What is it to thee?”
© 2003 Agnus Dei Presents!
