One of my favorite scenes from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the Gene Wilder version, not the creepy Johnny Depp version, is when the children first enter the Chocolate Room. You remember it, Willy Wonka leads the children and their parents to a tiny door at the end of a shrinking hallway. After playing a few bars from Mozart to disengage the musical lock, the entire wall opens to a world of pure imagination—lollipop flowers, meringue mushroom caps, candy canes, gummy bears, and jelly beans growing on trees, and, of course, my favorite: a chocolate waterfall flowing into a chocolate stream. What I love so much about this scene, aside from all the candy, is the genuine, spontaneous expressions on the children’s faces. You see, the actors hadn’t been in the Chocolate Room before; they’re experiencing it for the first time as we see it in the movie. So what we witness is the unvarnished thrill of discovery. That thrill is what Easter’s all about.
Christianity is a religion of discovery. Our story begins with the discovery of God dwelling among us when the shepherds and the magi find the Christ child in the manger. We discover that Jesus can cure the sick, heal the lame, and forgive the sinner in his countless miracles. We discover that the Messiah isn’t the valiant warlord that people thought he would be, but a humble servant who would freely suffer and die for our sins. Yet, the most thrilling discovery of all is the empty tomb, which is met with three very different reactions in today’s Gospel.
We can certainly understand why Mary’s so upset when she arrives to find an empty tomb; she thinks someone’s stolen Jesus’ body. And while the text doesn’t tell us what Peter’s thinking, it suggests a sense of bewilderment that we can understand too: if the body was stolen, why are the burial cloths left behind and the head covering neatly folded and set aside? But the disciple who arrives first, the one whom Jesus loved, reacts differently: he sees and believes. Just imagine the thrill of discovery he experienced upon realizing that Jesus rose from the dead.
So how come the beloved disciple sees and believes, and Mary and Peter don’t? Well, they’re all looking at the same facts, but with different eyes. The beloved disciple sees with Easter eyes, the eyes of faith. As Saint Paul tells us in our second reading, all who are baptized in Christ “are meant to see life from the perspective of being ‘seated at the right hand of God.’”[1] That means seeing through Jesus’ eyes—the eyes of perfect faith. In baptism, we all got a golden ticket—an invitation into a remarkable, unimaginable way of life. This new way of living isn’t locked behind a factory gate or limited to some far-off land in another dimension. The Kingdom of God isn’t “something to be waited for in the end, it’s something to be [discovered] and lived out every day.”[2] Or, as Willy Wonka would say: “If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.”
I know what you’re thinking. Paradise? Really? We’re stuck in a pandemic, isolated from family and friends, nearly suffocated daily by incessant mask-wearing, and experiencing serious illness, unemployment, anxiety, and depression as a result. Can’t God do better than this? Well, he has, and the empty tomb is proof. You’ll recall that the world God created was perfect, but human sin messed it up. That didn’t stop God, though. God sent his only Son to free us from the bonds of sin and death so that we could live in the peace of God’s Kingdom forever. The empty tomb means that, no matter what challenges you may face in this world, you can live in happiness, too, “like the Oompa Loompa doompadee do.” Good luck dislodging that ear-worm today.
So, where’s God’s Kingdom among us? It’s right here just waiting for us to discover it.
+ God’s Kingdom is in the loving care of a parent for her young child and a child for his aging parent.
+God’s Kingdom is in the heroic self-giving service of countless healthcare workers, first-responders, and military personnel who risk their lives to protect ours.
+ God’s Kingdom is in the passionate cries of all who fight for justice and peace, work to protect God’s creation, and promote the God-given dignity of every human life.
+ And God’s Kingdom is right here at Mass, where we come join with all the angels and Saints to offer praise and thanksgiving for Jesus’ sacrifice and real presence among us.
The proof of God’s Kingdom is all around us, especially in our most challenging times. Of course, the fullness of God’s Kingdom, a life free of all pain and sorrow, will come at the end of time, but if we look with the eyes of faith, we’ll discover that it’s right here, right now, too.
How do we see with the eyes of faith? Well, “only a personal encounter with Jesus can bring about Easter faith.”[3] Take a long walk on a quiet trail to pray with him. Read a short Bible passage every day to hear his voice. Come to Mass to worship him. Jesus is really present in creation, in Scripture, and in a privileged way in the sacraments. If we want to discover his real presence in our lives, deepen our relationship with him, and see with the eyes of faith, we need to spend time with him.
Spending time with Jesus helps us discover something about ourselves, too. We learn from him who we’re really supposed to be, and by contrast, who we’re not supposed to be. Jesus helps us root out the Augustus Gloops, Veruca Salts, Violet Beauregardes, and Mike Teevees in all of us, and he shows us how to be kind, giving, and loving, like Charlie Bucket.
While others on the Chocolate Factory tour express doubt and disbelief at every turn, Charlie experiences the thrill of discovery. Look at his face when he finds the golden ticket, steps into the Chocolate Room, plucks a candy cane off a tree, and licks the fruit-flavored wallpaper. But nothing beats the look on his face when he learns that he’s won the Chocolate Factory, simply for being the compassionate, selfless, honest person that he is. Charlie sees the world through Easter eyes, through the eyes of faith, and he lives a wonderful life because of it, notwithstanding the tremendous hardships he and his family have undergone. Just imagine the thrill of discovery we can experience if we learn to see the world through Jesus’ eyes. Charlie inherited a Chocolate Factory. We’ll inherit the Kingdom of God. Happy Easter!
Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9
[1] Catherine Cory et al., Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word: 2021, Year B (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2021), 160.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Francis Martin and William M. Wright IV, The Gospel of John, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2015), 331.
Imagination is such a gift. You connect the spiritual dots so well.
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