image Art in the Christian Tradition: Copyright © 2024 Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, Vanderbilt University
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On Good Friday, the reality of death hit home to the disciples. Jesus was dead, and all their hopes and dreams had died also.
Death comes as a shock, it robs us of the people we love. Even for those of us that know life and death are related to each other, that it is intricately tied to the web of life, death still comes as a shock, the reality and sting of death doesn't take away the surprise and grief over the loss of the people in our lives.
The same is true of Jesus and those that loved Jesus. On Good Friday, and Easter morning, the reality of Jesus death began to dawn on them.
Dead were the hands that healed the lepers,
Dead were the fingers that touched the eyes of the blind,
Dead was the lips that prayed thanksgiving over the fish and the loaves,
Dead was the heart that beat with compassion for the outcast, the immigrant, and the foreigner,
Dead was the mouth that had courageously declared that the poor in spirit, the meek, the brokenhearted, the peacemakers, those thirsting after justice, the pure in heart, the merciful would inherit the kin-dom of God,
Dead was the Jesus that went out to eat with tax collectors and sinners,
Dead was the Jesus that reached out to the woman at the well rejected by her own,
Dead was the Jesus that forgave sins, and told people to love their enemies,
The Roman empire and the religious elite thought they had won, they had put down another insurrectionist, another radical rabbi threatening the status quo, when Jesus' body was taken down from the cross, they thought, ah good, we put an end to this nonsense.
Until Easter...
On Easter morning, God had the last word. Death will never have the last word again.
On Easter morning, God declared in the words of the Danish theologian, Karl Barth, the divine "Yes" of God.
Humanity at its worst cannot put down the eternal unstoppable word of God; Jesus
God's word demonstrated in power, God's word demonstrated in glory, God's word demonstrated in victory, God's word demonstrated in love, God's word demonstrated in the empty tomb.
When Jesus loved ones arrived that day, Jesus wasn't in the tomb,
Jesus had risen again from the dead.
He wasn't finished.
Jesus wasn't finished holding the hand of the leper, Jesus wasn't finished bringing healing to the heart sick, Jesus wasn't finished being a friend to the friendless, Jesus wasn't finished standing up to the powers of the world that would oppress and deny our humanity, Jesus wasn't finished modeling an inclusive community of faith, one based on equality, equity and the diversity of the human family.
Jesus wasn't done breaking the chains of those held in bondage, Jesus wasn't finished clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, finding people that are at their ropes and and saying to them, here at the end of all things,
“I love you, I will never leave you, I died to let the world know that you are my child. You might be rejected by society, you might be rejected by people in your family,
but you will never be rejected by me, I know because I made you who you are, and I love you just as you are, and I will not leave you alone, in fact, I am going ahead of you to the Galilee. I'm waiting for you there.”
Galilee, where Jesus turned water into wine, where Jesus proclaimed the reign of God, where Jesus healed the sick, and preached the good news to the poor, where Jesus calmed the raging sea.
It is there, in the Galilee, that Jesus is waiting for us. To welcome us into God's realm, and journey with us into the new world of God's new creation.
This Easter, remember that the women were terrified and afraid, that they initially didn't say anything to anyone. The ending of Mark is v8, and it is with this honest ending that we often find ourselves on Easter, along with the women. But that is ok. Jesus meets us where we are. The important question, is whether we are willing to follow to Galilee.
To continue Jesus mission. There will be opposition. There was for the early followers of Jesus, and there is today, often among others that claim the name of Christ. This Easter, respond to Jesus call to follow, even though we may be quite fearful of where the journey make take us.
