I TOLD YOU SO — An Easter greeting from Bishop O'Connell

There are four words that most people dislike hearing from others: “I told you so.” They usually follow some prediction that we don’t expect to come true.  It’s a very human reaction.  After all, who wants to be proved wrong?

There is no question that the disciples were devastated by the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday.  He foretold it many times, as the Scriptures attest.  But they either didn’t understand or, perhaps, believe his prediction.  Recall these words in the four Gospels: 
And Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life (Luke 9: 22).”
Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.   He spoke plainly about this … (Mark 8: 31-32).
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life (Matthew 16: 21).
Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’   They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’  But the temple he had spoken of was his body.  After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken (John 2: 19-22).
Jesus did not simply predict his passion and death in these Gospel passages.  He also foretold his resurrection from the dead.  But, even after the resurrection the disciples “still did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead (John 20: 9).”  Jesus had told them “after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee (Matthew 26: 32).”
When the women went to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday morning, they found an angel inside, instead of the body of Jesus.  “He is not here,” the angel told them, “for he has risen, just as he said (Matthew 28: 6).”  Jesus appeared to his disciples several times after his resurrection.  “After he was raised from the dead his disciples recalled what he said (John 2: 22).” “They remembered his words (Luke 24: 8).”

Jesus could have said “I told you so.” But he didn’t.  Jesus could have reprimanded them for their lack of understanding.  But he didn’t.  Jesus could have had resentment for their lack of faith.  But he didn’t. Instead, he said “Peace be with you.” Instead, he said “Do not persist in your unbelief but believe (John 20: 27).”  Instead, he said “As the Father has sent me, so I send you (John 20: 21).”

Throughout his life and public ministry, Jesus asked only one thing of his disciples: faith. “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus proclaimed.  “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. (John 11: 25).”  At Easter, the Risen Lord Jesus brings those words to fulfillment.  The resurrection of Jesus was and still remains the greatest triumph of our Christian faith.  In the glory that is Easter, the Risen Lord Jesus really turns those four dreaded words — “I told you so”— into the most joyful phrase that humanity could hope to hear.  “Believe” and have a Happy Easter!

Most Reverend David O’Connell, C.M.
Bishop of Trenton