1 Corinthians 15.12-19; Matthew 28.1-10
Lent, is a demanding time …
Lent, asks a great deal of us …
Lent, takes us by the hand … maybe by the scruff of the neck … leads us, pushes us sometimes, into the deeps of faith, hope, and love.
Lent reminds us that love is expensive …
Easter morning reminds us that it’s worth the price.
Two women arrive at the tomb early Sunday morning to make a proper burial - Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to wash the body, perfume it, wrap it … pay their final respects, finish it with care and love.
But there’s an earthquake … an angel rolls away the stone and sits down on top of it to enjoy the rest of the day.
With light, bright as lightening … the guards faint away … to the women, the angel says, Don’t be afraid … he’s not here … he has been raised … go … tell his disciples … tell them, to go to Galilee, to meet him there.
The women hightail it outta there as fast as they can … overwhelmed, filled with a presence none can describe … Jesus meets them on the way … they fall at his feet … Jesus says, Don’t be afraid … tell my disciples, Go to Galilee! - I’ll see them there.
To Galilee … where it all began …
To Galilee - that fateful day …
Jesus walks along the shore … he sees two fishermen … he calls them, Come, and follow me! … and they leave their nets and boats … and then he calls two more … and so it begins, the incredible journey, the never-ending story.
A story that stirs the heart of humankind, excites the imagination, enlarges the conscience.
A story we enact in our liturgy every Sunday … a story we study and ponder, a story we embrace …
to find ourselves,
recalibrate our internal compass,
know something of right from wrong,
what’s good, and what isn’t …
shed some light our our journey …
know ourselves honestly, openly, in the best of it, in the worst of it …
the whole story, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God.
The story goes on …
Whatever work Christ did, the work continues, does it not?
Whatever work Christ did, the challenges remain, do they not?
Whatever work Christ did, are not the needs as great today? the dangers just as real?
Jesus carries the cross for everyone, the Lamb of God for the world … we carry our cross for just a few … but when enough of us carry our cross, it all adds up … to a mighty movement of justice and peace! Light and love.
The world pays attention to such things.
When Christians join their voices in the name of goodness and love! The world pays attention!
When Christ is lifted up as Redeemer and healer!
When Christ is offered as peace and hope, when Christ is celebrated as life and love …
When Christians engage the world with intelligence and compassion … when Christians welcome and affirm diversity of God’s creation … when doors are opened, when our hearts welcome every weary traveler, every soul in search of truth and peace.
The world will listen, with respect, interest, discovery, curiosity, and hope!
The world pays attention, because this is, still and always “our Father’s world” -
The human heart yearns for the authentic message of peace … there is something in all of us that resonates with the glory of heaven … we were made by God with a part of God inside of us, and that part of us, that God-part, forever seeks connection with God
… … … If the truth isn’t offered, people will believe the lie.
If love isn’t lifted up, people will gravitate toward hate.
If the church fails to be the church of Jesus Christ, and becomes a counterfeit, as it sometimes does, the world will follow the lie instead of the love.
If the church does not sing of Christ and the new day coming, people will sing deadly songs, songs of fear and damnation.
If the church fails to be the church of Jesus Christ.
So go to Galilee, says Jesus … where it all began!
A few steps backward, before the next step can be taken!
Go to Galilee … the original moment, the first decision, the primal promise … the earliest days.
It’s a good thing to do … artists practice the elements of perspective and color … singers rehearse the scales … engineers dig out an old text book … politicians read the speeches of Abraham Lincoln.
A few steps backward in order to move forward … go to Galilee! Where it all began.
One personal story … from high school days …
The church my family and I attended had a week-long mission conference every year … during the course of that conference, there was always an evening devoted to youth - with a call - to give our lives to full-time Christian service.
I was there that night … the minister gave the the call to come forward, to dedicate our life to full-time Christian service … a young blond girl stepped forward; I wanted to meet her, so I went forward, too … to meet her … AND to honor something in my soul - the love of God.
The confluence of two powerful elements: hormones, and the Holy Spirit.
Thereafter, I joined the church.
I met with the Session to make my confession of faith. I told the elders a bit about myself, and the young lady’s impact on my life.
Young love will do that, of course … young love writes poetry, dreams great things, moves into spiritual realms easily.
One of the elders asked, “Well, Tom, if you and this young lady break up, what will happen to your faith?”
That - was the question, wasn’t it?
The elder wisely backed me into a corner - there was really only one answer I could give … so I said, “I will remain faithful to Christ.”
I joined the church … the young lady and I went our separate ways … over the years, I’ve remembered my answer, the primal answer: “I will remain faithful to Christ.”
Go to Galilee … where it all began!
Visit the best decisions you’ve made over the years …
decisions of love and generosity …
decisions to give your life to Christ …
to write a check bigger than it should have been to some worthy cause …
a time when you made a stand for fairness and lost a friend … a time when you were on the mountain and all was good, and you could see forever …
a primal time, an original time … a time in Galilee, where it all began, and you were on the road to life.
Go to Galilee …
Early memories have their own story to tell: a trip to the library, the first “big” book you ever read … a family vacation … going to church …
a beloved minister …
a great teacher …
the tree house you built in the woods behind your house …
the model railroad you built in the basement … your new bike … your first camera … when you left home and started your life’s adventure.
People forget how good they are!
How much good they’ve done … how they’ve already succeeded, a thousand times over, in some of the hardest moments of life …
People forget how many mountains they’ve climbed,
how many rivers they’ve crossed …
how much love they’ve given …
to make the world a better place.
Go to Galilee … visit your best moments, where it all begin … reclaim yourself,
rediscover your dreams,
embrace your hopes and goodness …
be who you are, all that you are, and all that you can be.
Go to Galilee … and there, Jesus meets you.
Come with me, says Jesus, and let’s change the world.
Amen and Amen!
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