After the Resurrection, the followers of Jesus could hardly wait to spread the joyful story as they attempted to arouse an openness and eagerness in their listeners. Peter related how a Spirit-filled Jesus went about doing good and helping others. He endured a painful and humiliating death for his efforts but God had a tremendous surprise for humanity — He raised Jesus from the dead as a way of ratifying and approving all that He said and did. Now His followers were to continue the work by bringing others to faith. By giving themselves over to Jesus in faith, they would receive a second chance — the forgiveness of sins. This was very important and added to the apostles’ sense of urgency — the time was short and Jesus would soon judge the living and the dead.
God had another surprise — more of a shock — that we find in the two verses omitted from the lectionary reading. Peter had been instructed in no uncertain terms that God was impartial and did not play favourites. Anyone who seeks to live justly and compassionately in any nation or state of life is acceptable to God. This story proclaimed by the apostles tore through Judea and the neighbouring countries, starting the birth of the Church and the transformation of the world. Joy and enthusiasm, especially when joined to one’s personal experience, is a very effective tool for proclaiming the Gospel. We cannot give what we do not have — unless we have encountered the power of the Gospel and the risen Lord, our words will seem hollow and unconvincing.
Trying to convince people that the entire purpose of life is spiritual in nature is an uphill battle. The mind is filled with the concerns and the enticements of our society and culture, while spiritual matters often recede into the background. The author of Colossians invites us to lift our focus into the spiritual realms. This does not mean walking around in a mystical fog or refusing to engage with the needs and challenges of this world. Focusing on the things that are above is nothing more than a call to allow our sacred imagination to be cleansed and filled with the images, symbols and values of God’s world rather than our own. Ironically, this will make us even more effective in navigating the challenges and opportunities of life.
People sometimes lament that Jesus lived so long ago. They long to hear His teachings and to be present after the Resurrection. Faith, they think, would be so much easier, but they are wrong. The Gospels are brutally honest — most of the time the apostles were clueless and did not grasp the ultimate importance of Jesus’ mission. On Easter morning, the Beloved Disciple and Peter raced to the tomb to check out the report that it was empty, and sure enough it was. The absence of the body and the rolled-up face covering signalled that something momentous had occurred — death itself had been thwarted. The two apostles were impressed but seemed to return home without knowing quite what to make of it. Mary Magdalene was the one graced with the revelation of the risen Lord. Her tears outside the tomb were interrupted by the same question from the angel and from Jesus: Woman, why do you weep? In other words — don’t you get it? When Jesus called her by name the incomprehension vanished. She was then charged with bearing a message to the apostles and to us that disclosed the meaning of the empty tomb and the return of Jesus to the Father.
God is everyone’s God and Father. Since God is the Father of Jesus and all of us, we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus and of one another. Hatred, exclusion, injustice, religious bigotry or fanaticism and selfishness have no place. The link that binds us together with one another and with Jesus and the Father is love. As long as we walk the path of selfless love we journey on the path to God. Easter is more than an event — it is a way of living and being.