‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you into Galilee.”’ Mark 16:6-7.
The Gospel writer Mark does not have the risen Jesus appearing to any disciples on Easter day. Instead, they have to travel for days back to Galilee. Of course, that was where many of them had first met him, and it was where he had called them to follow him. That was where they had seen his miracles: casting out unclean spirits, healing, restoring people back to ordinary community life. Except that now they knew what sort of Messiah Jesus was – a crucified Messiah – who had defeated death through the loving self-sacrifice of his innocent self.
They are called to trust that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is also at work in their lives, no matter what difficult situation was facing them.
That is our calling as well. Maybe we have to move on, by revisiting past experiences, and seeing them in the light of Easter, and forgiveness. Maybe we have to move on, by bravely getting out of bed, making it, and then facing what needs to be faced. Maybe we need to move on, by not being trapped by self-pity, fear or failure. Maybe we need to move on by knowing that life is not all about us and what we want and expect.
Easter still works. Christ is risen, and he brings his light, love and healing into every part of our lives.
