Easter Vigil and Sunrise Easter Day

Matthew 28:1-10

Prayer: Risen Lord, you love us, you call us, you change us.

Let us recognize your coming, however gently or dramatically you approach us. Let us recognize your compassionate emergence into the dark places of our lives, your generous summons, your transforming touch upon the bleak places of our world. Lord of life, of hope, of resurrection.

 

Waking early, before the sun has risen; the awful memory takes hold of her consciousness: it was not a dream, it is true, he is dead.  Jesus was the only person who ever treated her with loving respect, compassion, and understanding. Jesus taught her a whole new meaning to the word “love.” Now he is gone, killed by the Roman soldiers.  Pilate was right to wash his hands.

 

Who is she? Mary Magdalene.

She takes the jar of spikenard and goes outside. The dawn will break soon. A few red streaks appear in the sky, promising a beautiful day. But how can anything be beautiful with Jesus dead and buried in that tomb?

 

The other Mary is coming toward her. They are going to the tomb. It is not far to walk. Just as they approach there is an earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and rolled back the stone, perching on top of it. His appearance was like lightning. The guards understandably afraid stepped away. The angel spoke to the women acknowledging that they were looking for Jesus who as crucified. “He is not here, for he has been raised. Look inside and see: the tomb is empty. Go tell his disciples that “he has been raised from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.”  

 

 

Trusting their faith eyes, the women turned to go back and tell the other disciples and as they did – in their act of obedience, Jesus greeted them and gave the same instruction: “do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, there they will see me.”

 

Where do we meet the risen LORD?

This story is so visceral, emotional and deeply personal, that we feel invited to be part of the story….that even in our dark moments, we are not alone….and now that he has risen, you never know where he will show up next.

 

Mary recognized the living, risen Christ and right there in that moment of recognition, he commissioned her. In every encounter with the living Christ recounted in Scripture there is recognition and commission. He met them where they were…as he meets us where we are…and when we recognize who it is with us, he sends us forth to Galilee to share the good news. Every time he came to them, they became more like HIM.

 

If I were Mary, I would want more specific directions: where in Galilee? Is it where Peter and James and John and Andrew left their first occupation to follow Jesus? Is it where he healed the woman with the hemorrhage, or where the man born blind was healed? Is it where the leper was made clean or the hillside where two small fish and five barley loaves fed 5000 men not counting women and children? Where were we when he said, he would be killed and rise in 3 days?

 

The point is He goes before us into Galilee….there he will find us!

 

Galilee awaits everyone who has lost their faith, who compromises their integrity for a few more dollars, where there are children hungry for food and kindness, where an elderly person spends day after lonely day wishing for a visitor, where families are torn apart by war, nationality, creed, prejudice, and broken relationships. Our Galilee is waiting – on our city streets, in the halls of our schools, in the hospital and hospice rooms, behind prison walls, wherever a human being is in need of love and Christ’s presence. … that is Galilee.

 

Galilee is not only the place where Jesus had promised to gather his scattered sheep. It is also the place where his ministry revealing the dawning reign of God had been lived out. It is where he called the disciples. Where he healed the sick, taught the crowds, and showed compassion on the suffering. He taught in parables, fed the multitudes, blessed the children, challenged the rich and tried to help them see a suffering servant messiah.

 

The theological point of telling the disciples to meet him in Galilee is important: the risen Jesus is to be expected in the places of his once and future ministry, in all those places of grace-full endeavor, where healing, feeding, teaching, and suffering require compassionate presence.

HE IS RISEN

He goes before you into Galilee: there you will see him!